航班飞行变动物园？

Delta begins a welcome crackdown on ’emotional support animal’ scams: Our view

我们的观点：达美开始实施行动打击“情感支持类动物”骗局。

Many people who fly would agree that airline travel has gone to the dogs. And in some cases, they mean it literally.

很多飞行的人都会同意航空飞行现在都变成狗狗的世界了。在很多情况下，现状就是字面的意思。

In the past few years, too many passengers have stretched the meaning of service animals that do vital jobs for their owners to include all manner of odd or ill-behaved pets.

在过去的几年里，很多乘客反映现在那些为主人做重要工作的宠物很多行为古怪，甚至有些表现很差劲。

Take the large, mixed breed canine on a San Diego-bound Delta flight last June that attacked the man in the neighboring seat, leading to 28 stitches and scars on his face.

去年6月，在一架飞往圣地亚哥的达美航空公司(Delta flight)航班上，一只体型庞大的混血犬袭击了邻座的男子，导致他脸上缝了28针，脸上留了疤。

OPPOSING VIEW: More animals on airplanes is good

相反观点：飞机上有很多动物是一件好事

Or the big brown pig that acted like one by defecating in the aisle and howling before being booted from a US Airways flight.

或者是一只大棕猪，它在过道里排便，然后在从全美航空公司的航班上被赶出来之前不断嚎叫。

Or the "emotional support" peacock that thankfully was turned away this week from a United flight at Newark Liberty.

幸好，这周在纽瓦克国际机场的联合飞行前，一只被称为是“情感支持”的孔雀被拒绝登机。

Now one of the major carriers, Delta, is making a welcome move to rein in these unpleasant and even dangerous situations before airline cabins get even more zooey.

现在，主要的航空公司之一，达美航空，正在采取一种受欢迎的措施来控制这些令人不快甚至是危险的情况，免得航班的客舱变成宠物乐园。

The biggest change: Starting March 1, passengers with psychiatric service or emotional support animals (ESAs) will need to provide proof from a doctor or a licensed mental health professional that they need the animal and certification that it is trained to behave — all 48 hours before any flight.

最大的变化是:从3月1日起，精神科服务或情感支持动物(ESAs)的乘客需要向医生或有执照的精神健康专家提供证明，他们需要动物认证，并在在任何飞行前48小时接受训练。

It’s about time. Delta says it flew about a quarter-million service and ESAs last year, up 150% from 2015. This uptick just happens to coincide with the growth of online businesses that promise to connect pet owners with a mental health professional who can provide a letter certifying that the owners need a support animal to assist them. Broad federal law and regulations require airlines, except in rare circumstances, to accommodate such animals for free.

这是时间的问题。达美航空表示，该公司去年的服务规模为25万，比2015年增长了150%。这种上升恰好与在线业务的增长相吻合，后者承诺将养宠物的人与心理健康专业人士建立联系，后者可以提供信件证明主人需要一个支持动物来帮助他们。广泛的联邦法律和法规要求航空公司，除了在极少数情况下，需要免费搭载这些动物。

Inconvenience to others is just one part of the problem. Another? When these animals misbehave, they make life harder for people with traditional service animals trained to carry out specific tasks, such as dogs that guide blind people. Or psychiatric service animals that work with less visible disabilities — for instance, sensing an oncoming epileptic seizure or soothing a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.

给他人带来的不便只是问题的一部分。另一个?当这些动物表现不佳时，它们会让那些接受过传统服务的动物的生活变得更加艰难，这些传统服务的动物被训练来执行特定的任务，比如导盲犬。或者是精神科服务的动物，比如那些工作不那么明显的残疾的动物，他们能预感到癫痫病发作或抚慰一名患有创伤后应激障碍的老兵。

Service dogs are trained to work, sit quietly, stay calm in stressful situations, and not defecate indoors — all reasonable requirements to join humans in airline cabins.

服务犬训练有素，安静地坐着，在有压力的情况下保持冷静，不会在在室内排便，这些动物是有理由被带上飞机的。

ESAs often fail these basic tests, and it’s hard to confer the same legitimacy on them when all owners need to do these days is find an online provider, talk, often by phone or Skype, with a "mental health professional," and get a letter attesting to their needs. Online come-ons from some in this new industry are pretty blatant: “Need an ESA letter?” says one. “Emotional Support Animal Letter Services — Don’t Pay For Flights …"

情感支持类动物经常不能通过这些基本的测试，他们的主人需要在网上找到一个提供在线服务的人，经常通过电话或Skype与一个“心理健康专家”交谈，并得到信函认证，这就意味着很难赋予他们同样的合法性。在这个新行业里，有很多明显的吸引人的条件:“需要情感支持认证信吗?情感支持动物信件服务不用支付航班费用。”

The online industry is appealing to baser needs, such as avoiding the hefty fees airlines charge to take an ordinary pet into the cabin in a carrier. Delta charges $125 one way.

网络行业对于基本需求来说越来越有吸引力，比如避免将一只普通宠物带进航空公司机舱的高额费用。达美航空公司的收费标准是一次飞行125美元。

Some advocates for the disabled have lashed out at Delta for placing discriminatory burdens on people with service dogs. Finding the perfect way to balance airline safety and passengers’ civil rights isn’t easy, but at least Delta is trying.

一些支持残疾人的人士抨击了达美航空公司，因为他们给服务犬的人带来了歧视性的负担。找到平衡航空公司安全和乘客公民权利的完美方法并不容易，但至少达美航空正在寻找办法。

A lot of the problem is more about selfishness than necessity. The obvious solution: Pet owners should stop scamming, professionals should stop handing out letters so cavalierly, and the government should set stricter, more realistic rules.

很多问题更多的是自私而非必要性。显而易见的解决办法是:养宠物的人应该停止欺诈，专业人士应该停止如此傲慢地发放信件，政府应该制定更严格、更现实的规定。

Flying is already unpleasant enough. Passengers don’t need to share cramped rows with "emotional support" swine, turkeys or even nice dogs that aren’t there to do a real job.

飞行已经够烦人的了。乘客不需要与“情感支持”猪、火鸡或甚至是那些没有真正工作的好狗分享拥挤的空间。