Veteran Dale Medcalf said he was amazed recently when he found himself being evicted from Reed’s Bay hotel because of his service dog, 3-year-old Milan.
“This is the first time I’ve ever had a problem,” he said.
Medcalf lost his lower left leg and damaged his spine while in the military, serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan, he said. Now, just getting up and down can be an immense chore, even with the use of the transtibial prosthetic that attaches to his leg below his knee.
So after a recommendation from the Veteran’s Administration, he got Milan to help him with his day-to-day chores. A large Italian breed, the cane corso lives a relatively long lifespan of 10-12 years for an animal that can grow to between 99 and 110 pounds and between 2 and 2.5 feet tall.
When looking at all the qualities he sought for service animal, Medcalf narrowed his choices down to five breeds before choosing Milan.
“It was a big deal when I got her two years ago,” he said. “She’s a certified service animal, she’s microchipped, and she’s been through all the training. She can go on planes with me. Really, she can go anywhere.”
Well, almost anywhere.
On June 3, Don Inouye, the owner and operator of Reed’s Bay on Banyan Drive in Hilo, called the police and told Medcalf he would have to leave after learning that Milan was staying with Medcalf in one of his rooms.
Inouye said he’s had a long history of dealing with tenants breaking the rules when it came to bringing dogs and other animals onto the property.
He tries to make accommodations for guests with service animals, but guests bringing in so-called “comfort” animals has especially caused a problem.
“I have regulations in my hotel for comfort animals,” he said.
“I ran into a big problem with that.”
People have misrepresented their pets as comfort animals, Inouye said, and that can create issues with other guests.
“In one particular case, there was a girl (who wanted to bring a comfort animal on the property) and I refused to admit the animal. … I had an individual living two doors down who had a liver transplant that cannot be close to animals,” he said. It became a big deal, I had to pay $8,000 or $9,000 in attorney fees. We won the case. But I have to be very careful.”
But when it comes to service animals helping people with legitimate disabilities, Inouye said he always tries to make accomodations, as he is required to do by law. In Medcalf’s case, he wasn’t the guest registered in the room, and he never filled out a form saying that he was checking in with a service animal, Inouye said.
Shortly after the Tribune-Herald inquired about Medcalf being evicted, Inouye said he would find a room for Medcalf and invite him to stay there.
“I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable staying here after the way I was treated,” Medcalf responded at the time. He ended up, however, staying at the hotel that night.
Unfortunately, such run-ins with business owners are not uncommon, said University of Hawaii at Hilo philosophy professor Ron Amundson, who serves as secretary of Disability Rights Hawaii. And much of the backlash against people with legitimate need for service animals can be traced to people who bring dogs and other pets into public areas on false pretenses.
“It’s a controversial issue,” he said.
“A lot of the people who use service animals are not prone to being liberal about who gets to use (animals). Because they know that when people just start bringing them along and saying that they’re comfort animals or something like that — which has no legal standing now as I understand it. If you’ve got a comfort snake, that doesn’t count for anything.”
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart
@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
