Man and His Service Duck Banned From Buc-ee's for Life and People Are Crying Foul
Justin Wood brought his service pet duck named Wrinkle the Duck into a Buc-ees store in Tennessee. Wrinkle was contained in a stroller for part of her visit, and at one point Wood let the duck simply follow him around the store.
He received conflicting information from Buc-ees employees while he was shopping, including that the store only allowed service dogs. A different employee told Wood that Wrinkle would be okay if she were kept on a leash. When Wood left the Buc-ees store a police officer was waiting for him.
People in the comments section are for sure on Team Wrinkle. It did seem like a lot of customers loved meeting her. One person commented, "I can't believe they did that to you. Wrinkle was not hurting anyone or anything. She just brought smiles to peoples faces. I definitely won't be visiting Bucees. I love you and wrinkle. Hopefully you have much better experiences on your adventures." Another added, "How can one store ban someone from ALL locations? That doesn't seem like something that manager should even be able to do. And wasting the cops time over such a petty thing. Honestly that's stupid. If the animal is contained, isn't interrupting business, isn't posing a health concern, isn't destroying property or anything like that, why would it even matter?"
It does seem like the cops thought this entire situation was pretty absurd.
When the one employee asked what services Wrinkle provides it was pretty shocking the other customer had to school her that you aren't allowed to ask that question. You can legally ask if the animal is a service animal required because of a disability. However, since certification isn't necessary for an animal to be a service animal, papers cannot be a condition for allowing the animal in.
Related: Therapy Bunny Visiting Residents at a Memory Care Center Couldn't Be Sweeter
According to The New York Post, "Buc-ee’s pet policy says “The Health Code prohibits live animals, including dogs, where food could potentially be contaminated. There are exceptions, however, for service animals and animals that work with police officers. For people with disabilities, specially trained service animals play an absolutely vital role. They make it possible for those with disabilities to work, travel, stay safe, and, in some cases, stay alive.”
We aren't sure whether Wrinkles is a therapy animal or a service animal, and there is an absolute difference.
The Difference Between Therapy Animals and Service Animals
Service animals are specifically trained to perform tasks for individuals with disabilities. These tasks are directly related to the person's disability.
Therapy animals provide emotional support, comfort, and companionship to people in various settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and disaster areas. They are not specifically trained to perform certain tasks, but they are usually calm and well-behaved.
It will be interesting to see if Buc-ees stands by their worldwide ban for Wrinkles and his owner!
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