In Defense of Flying with an Emotional Support Animal

two beagles and an adorable child get ready to board a plane. playing in device to see if they fit in carry-on space.

Getting your dog certified as an emotional support animal seems to be the way of the future. Eventually someone will come up with a way to let airlines just charge us for a regular seat for our dogs. But for now this is the uneasy truce between dog people and the airlines. Over Christmas I flew roundtrip from New York to Chicago in a way that goes against everything airlines stand for today: I paid no extra fees and had no unnecessary paperwork despite the fact that my daughter and I flew with two beagles at our feet as Emotional Support Animals. The planes didn’t crash. The beagles didn’t unpredictably go wild. They didn’t even steal any cookies.

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Dogs Can No Longer Walk into Famous Brooklyn Bar

dog walks up to a bar

One of New York City’s most famously dog-friendly bar, The Gate, in Park Slope says it will no longer allow them because it was busted under the city’s outdated health code.

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Painted Lady butterflies migrating through NYC

The smaller, drabber cousin of the Monarch is headed north in huge numbers this year.

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Ambitious, young males leading hummingbirds in early migration

Macho hummingbirds are leading the migration north weeks early this year. Most ruby-throated hummingbirds are still hanging back down south.

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Tell the feds you want a Chicagoland NWR

Tell the FWS that Chicago and Milwaukee would like Hackmatack, a new wildlife refuge they could drive to. You might see whooping cranes, river otter, cougars, blandings turtles and all kinds of birds there. They take comments until April 27 and are set to decide this fall.

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Hummingbirds arrive a month--sometimes two--early this year; some never left

In the last week hummingbirds flew into IL, NY, PA, OH, MD and even Ontario, way ahead of schedule. Freakishly, many fragile hummingbirds spent all winter up north.

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Chicago so excited about bald eagle nest it cancels nearby shooting range plans

IL eagle flies on blue sky

Bald eagles chose the post-industrial wasteland of Chicago’s way South Side to build their first nest in the city in 130 years. The Chicago PD cancelled plans for a huge outdoor firing range nearby that environmentalists hated anyway.

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Whooping cranes may make AL home after fluky weather and FAA rules dispute

13 endangered whooping cranes now call Wheeler NWR their winter home–maybe permanently–thanks to the quirks of weather, FAA rules and bird stubbornnes.

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Men's mags duel over OH zoo gone wild

GQ and Esquire face off over the exotic predator release in OH. Esquire goes all action adventure. GQ tries to figure out how lion, tigers and bears were unleashed on suburbia.

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How to find the snowy owl near you

Snowy owl stands on Wisconsin brush,

The white, Harry Potter owls are having a boom year, sighted in Boston, Chicago, Philly, Denver and Long Island. Look on eBird to see where.

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