Peter Rhodes on Greenland, Furness and something smelly in the courtroom
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and also dog poo. The fashion for ESAs, Emotional Support Animals which began, of course, in America, is causing all sorts of problems in British courtrooms with reports of dogs biting witnesses and fouling the floors.
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Judges are now drawing up guidelines to allow genuine, highly-trained assistance animals into court, while banning creatures which are “little more than family pets.”
Apparently some defendants claim to need their animal companion in court because they (the accused, not the animal) suffer from anxiety. Well, of course they do. When you're in the dock you are supposed to be anxious; that's the whole point of it.
Indeed, if you're on trial and not feeling anxious, you probably need more help than any dog, cat or gerbil can offer.
As you may recall, I have some experience of this dilemma, thanks to my long-standing desire to introduce my own emotional support animal, Nigel, to the opera (so far without success; people can be so narrow-minded).
