In October 2018, the National Park Service (NPS) issued a policy memorandum regarding the use of service animals by persons with disabilities in national parks. The revised policy aligns the NPS policy with the standards established by the Department of Justice and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Dogs classified as service animals are individually trained to perform a specific task that assists a person with a disability. Service dogs are legally permitted anywhere that visitors can go. They must be allowed wherever visitors are allowed.
Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability.
Emotional support, therapy, and companion animals are not service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), they have not been trained to provide a task directly related to a disability. Emotional support animals are considered to be a pet.
Service dogs-in-training are not service animals under ADA but are considered pets. Entities covered by the ADA must modify their policies to permit miniature horses where reasonable. The regulations set out four assessment factors to assist entities in determining whether miniature horses can be accommodated in their facility. The assessment factors are (1) whether the miniature horse is housebroken; (2) whether the miniature horse is under the owner’s control; (3) whether the facility can accommodate the miniature horse’s type, size, and weight; and (4) whether the miniature horse’s presence will not compromise legitimate safety requirements necessary for safe operation of the facility.
Things to Know
Where domestic animals and wildlife overlap there is a possibility of exchanging diseases between them. Domestic dogs have introduced disease into wildlife populations and the park’s native canids (coyotes, and foxes) are vulnerable to domestic diseases such as canine distemper, parvovirus, rabies, mange, etc. Likewise it’s possible for domestic dogs to acquire these diseases from wild animals.
To further prevent the spread of disease:
- Service animals must always be under control and attended at all times. Additionally, all dogs must comply with state and county regulations regarding vaccinations and licensing.
- Pet food is a wildlife attractant and should be stored accordingly. Food and food containers must never be left unattended and must be kept out of reach of wildlife.
- Service animal fecal matter must be picked up and disposed of properly. Fecal matter should be disposed of in a trash receptacle or if not readily accessible (such as in the backcountry) it should be buried in a cat hole dug a minimum of 6 inches deep and a 200 feet from water sources, campsites, or trails.
Safety and wellness precautions for service animals:
- Potable water is only available at the visitor centers and the West Entrance of the park. Use of any natural water found in the park is prohibited.
- Park trails can be surfaced with compacted gravel, a mix of native soils and rocks, or desert surfaces. Seasonal heat can burn the pads of dog’s feet.
- Most paved stops in the park and at visitor centers have trash cans for disposing of animal waste; however, there are no plastic bags provided, so please remember to bring your own.
- Wildlife can be encountered anywhere in the park - even near developed and busy areas, like the visitor center. Mountain lions are of obvious concern, but smaller animals like foxes, coyotes, bobcats and even rodents, snakes, scorpions could cause issues for service animals unused to encountering wildlife. Large birds of prey may also be a concern for particularly small service animals.
