[ABANDONED] Emotional Support Animals: Just a Load of Bull?

[Wischland]

Hey guys! 10000 Islands is having a Summer Olympics event, part of which is an issue writing contest, which this issue is obviously for. I've never written an issue before, so I'd really appreciate your thoughts. Help my team win the XKI Summer Olympics!

1st Draft:

Emotional Support Animals: Just a Load of Bull?

The Issue:
Following a news story of a woman and her emotional support bull being kicked out of a local china shop, a national debate about the allowances and accommodations that ought to be made for emotional support animals has erupted.

The Debate:
1. “Please @@LEADER@@,” begs the women from the video, @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, as her support bull knocks over one of your priceless vases. “Emotional support animals are critical to allowing people with disabilities—and people who are just going through a tough time—to function normally. You must mandate that all businesses allow support animals! And maybe also help owners pay for their animals? All the glassware my beloved bull breaks isn’t cheap ya’know!”

Effect: There are more @@ANIMALPLURAL@@ in support training than in the wild

2. “That’s ridiculous!” cries the china shop owner, @@RANDOMNAME@@, gluing your shattered vase back together. “Us business owners can’t afford to accommodate every animal that rampages through our stores. Plus, these beasts will drive away any customer with allergies! Any hope of making a profit will be dashed, unless you allow businesses to ban animals from their property!”

Effect: Business owners spend most of their time chasing errant squirrels from the premises

3. “There’s no need to take such an extreme stance,” says your mild-mannered secretary @@RANDOMNAME@@, as @@HE@@ quickly covers up his red shirt. “Perhaps you could just regulate which animals can be emotional support animals, so that there are no more bulls in china shops. If only fuzzy, cuddly animals receive support training, it’s a win-win situation.”

Effect: @@DENOMYNMPLURAL@@ who adopt big cats as emotional support animals are called “Tiger Kings”

4. “There’s something we’re not considering,” chimes in animal rights activist, @@RANDOMNAME@@, while feeding the bull handfuls of grain. “What about the animals who loyally serve their owners? These creatures are incredibly intelligent, talented, and just so darn cute. It should be required that owners pay their service and support animals, like they would an employee, for all that they do.”

Effect: Service dogs make up most of @@NAME@@’s top 1%

Emotional Support Animals: Just a Load of Bull?
The Issue:
Following a news story about a woman’s emotional support bull destroying a large portion of a local china shop’s merchandise, a national debate about the necessity of emotional support animals has erupted.

The Debate:
1. “Please @@LEADER@@,” begs the women from the video, @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, as her support bull knocks over one of your priceless vases. “Emotional support animals are critical to allowing people with mental disorders like PTSD or depression to function normally. They’re just like service animals, but for people with mental rather than physical disabilities. You must mandate that emotional support animals receive the same legal protections and accommodations as service animals, so that they can help people with mental disorders. And maybe also help owners pay for them? All the glassware my beloved bull breaks isn’t cheap ya’know!”

Effect: There are more @@ANIMALPLURAL@@ in support training than in the wild

2. “That’s ridiculous!” cries the china shop owner, @@RANDOMNAME@@, gluing your shattered vase back together. “People who claim to need emotional support animals are just being overly sensitive. I bet they don’t even have any real disabilities! You can’t force us business owners to allow these glorified pets in our stores. Grab the bull by the horns and ban these ridiculous emotional support animals!”

Effect: Citizens are discouraged from receiving any joy from their pet

3. “There’s no need to take such an extreme stance,” says your mild-mannered secretary @@RANDOMNAME@@, as @@HE@@ quickly hides his red shirt from the bull. “There’s no need to ban all emotional support animals. You could just regulate which animals can become support animals, to ensure that people aren’t just claiming any old pet as a support animal. That way there’ll be no more bulls in china shops. If only fuzzy, cuddly animals like cats and dogs receive support training, it’s a win-win situation.”

Effect: @@DENOMYNMPLURAL@@ who adopt big cats as emotional support animals are called “Tiger Kings”

4. “There’s something we’re not considering,” chimes in animal rights activist, @@RANDOMNAME@@, while feeding the bull handfuls of grain. “What about the animals who loyally serve their owners? These creatures are incredibly intelligent, talented, and just so darn cute. It should be required that owners pay their service and support animals, like they would an employee, for all that they do.”

Effect: Service dogs make up most of @@NAME@@’s top 1%

[Australian rePublic]

Have people taken emotional support animals into shops? Also, is there a limit for what type of animal allowable in a shop? It's one thing to bring an emotional support ferret, and another thing entirely to bring an emotional support bull

[Electrum]

Why a bull in particular? Is it just for the title?

Also, this seems like it overlaps with issue 558.

[Honeydewistania]

Why a bull in particular? Is it just for the title?

Also, this seems like it overlaps with issue 558.

Looks like for that description as well

[Wischland]

Also, this seems like it overlaps with issue 558.

Ahh, so it does. I must’ve missed it when I looked through the existing issues list. That’s a shame. Thanks for pointing it out though!

Since the XKI Olympics only last for a month, I think I’ll just leave this alone for now, instead of trying to think of a way to rewrite it to be more original. But I might get back to it someday! Thank you everyone for the help. Also stay on the lookout, cause I’m gonna brainstorm and draft some more ideas…

[Wischland]

So, good news! I’ve clarified with the coordinators of the XKI Olympics, and the issues for the issue-writing event will be judged as standalone issues, separate from NS. This means that overlap with other issues isn’t a problem. So, I’m reviving this and would appreciate your continued criticism.

Have people taken emotional support animals into shops?

A fair question. I originally wrote this issue to be about support animals on airplanes, as I’ve seen more news articles about that, but changed it to stores, so that the issue would include nations that have banned aircraft. Personally, I think the issue still works because there’s not much of a stretch between the airplanes and shops. That being said, if you think I should change it, I can see two ways of fixing confusion over support animals in shops.
1. Rewrite the issue to the original plane version. I’d have to completely rewrite it though, cause the “bull in a china shop” thing wouldn’t work on a plane.
2. Edit the issue to include service animals, which are in shops. This would be a major overlap with issue 558, but as I said, that’s not really a problem for the Olympics.
I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts about this!

Also, is there a limit for what type of animal allowable in a shop? It's one thing to bring an emotional support ferret, and another thing entirely to bring an emotional support bull

I tried to cover these questions with option 3, which seeks to limit support animals to “fuzzy, cuddly animals” like cats and dogs. And also tigers. I think I’ll include the “cats and dogs” phrase in the option to clarify it.

Why a bull in particular? Is it just for the title?

Kinda yeah. I wanted an animal that would be ridiculous as a support animal and had puns and sayings around it that I could use to add humor to the issue. A bull was what I came up with.

[Trotterdam]

So, good news! I’ve clarified with the coordinators of the XKI Olympics, and the issues for the issue-writing event will be judged as standalone issues, separate from NS. This means that overlap with other issues isn’t a problem. So, I’m reviving this and would appreciate your continued criticism.

Well of course, it's up to the contest organizers to set the rules, but if you're not trying to get the issue published for real then I don't see why the rest of us in this forum should care.

Maybe make the issue more around what an "emotional support animal" is (because that's not what I'd normally call a seeing-eye animal), and whether "needing emotional support" is a legitimate disability that warrants receiving special priviledges for.

[Wischland]

Well of course, it's up to the contest organizers to set the rules, but if you're not trying to get the issue published for real then I don't see why the rest of us in this forum should care.

And yet you took the time to respond to the issue and give me a suggestion...
I don't expect this to be high priority for people, but it's still important to me, both as part of the Olympics and as practice for writing issues once I have enough citizens to actually submit them. So if people are kind enough to help me out, I very much appreciate it.

Maybe make the issue more around what an "emotional support animal" is (because that's not what I'd normally call a seeing-eye animal), and whether "needing emotional support" is a legitimate disability that warrants receiving special priviledges for.

I really like that idea! I'll work on rewriting the issue to be more about that. Thank you!
Perhaps something like this?

Emotional Support Animals: Just a Load of Bull?
The Issue:
Following a news story about a woman’s emotional support bull destroying a large portion of a local china shop’s merchandise, a national debate about the necessity of emotional support animals has erupted.

The Debate:
1. “Please @@LEADER@@,” begs the women from the video, @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, as her support bull knocks over one of your priceless vases. “Emotional support animals are critical to allowing people with mental disorders like PTSD or depression to function normally. They’re just like service animals, but for people with mental rather than physical disabilities. You must mandate that emotional support animals receive the same legal protections and accommodations as service animals, so that they can help people with mental disorders. And maybe also help owners pay for them? All the glassware my beloved bull breaks isn’t cheap ya’know!”

Effect: There are more @@ANIMALPLURAL@@ in support training than in the wild

2. “That’s ridiculous!” cries the china shop owner, @@RANDOMNAME@@, gluing your shattered vase back together. “People who claim to need emotional support animals are just being overly sensitive. I bet they don’t even have any real disabilities! You can’t force us business owners to allow these glorified pets in our stores. Grab the bull by the horns and ban these ridiculous emotional support animals!”

Effect: Citizens are discouraged from receiving any joy from their pet

3. “There’s no need to take such an extreme stance,” says your mild-mannered secretary @@RANDOMNAME@@, as @@HE@@ quickly hides his red shirt from the bull. “There’s no need to ban all emotional support animals. You could just regulate which animals can become support animals, to ensure that people aren’t just claiming any old pet as a support animal. That way there’ll be no more bulls in china shops. If only fuzzy, cuddly animals like cats and dogs receive support training, it’s a win-win situation.”

Effect: @@DENOMYNMPLURAL@@ who adopt big cats as emotional support animals are called “Tiger Kings”

4. “There’s something we’re not considering,” chimes in animal rights activist, @@RANDOMNAME@@, while feeding the bull handfuls of grain. “What about the animals who loyally serve their owners? These creatures are incredibly intelligent, talented, and just so darn cute. It should be required that owners pay their service and support animals, like they would an employee, for all that they do.”

Effect: Service dogs make up most of @@NAME@@’s top 1%