Support animals help UNC students

Senior Jared Scruggs is the proud owner of a small 10-month-old pointer fox terrier mix named Willow. But Willow isn’t any regular puppy — she is a support animal.

Three years ago, UNC allowed its first support animal in a residence hall. Today, there are three students living with support animals on campus, said Rick Bradley, associate director of housing and residential education.

According to UNC’s Animals On Campus policy, a service animal is defined by law as a dog or miniature horse, but support animals include more species. A support animal is “an animal that provides emotional or other support to an individual with a disability.”

“They used to be called comfort animals until the policy was rewritten by accessibility resources,” Bradley said.

He said cleanliness hasn’t been an issue since support animals have been allowed.

“There have been issues where somebody was not a service animal and was used as a pet,” Bradley said. “We don’t allow pets.”

Bradley said support animals and service animals can sometimes be confused as the same thing.

“A service animal is trained to perform a certain task,” he said. “For example, with seizures, dogs are trained to be alerted when their owner is having a seizure. While support animals are related more to mental health related conditions, such as anxiety and depression.”

In March 2015, Scruggs said, he decided to adopt Willow from the Animal Protection Society of Durham after a difficult junior year.

“I was really depressed last year,” Scruggs said. “I’ve experienced suicidal ideations in the past and I was getting to a very low point and I didn’t want to get to that point.”

Scruggs and his therapist decided getting a support animal would be a good idea.

“My therapist explained how having a therapy dog or comfort animal would be helpful for me and my symptoms,” Scruggs said.

Willow lives with Scruggs in his on-campus apartment in Odum Village.

“The biggest way she helps is just by being there,” he said. “She’s helped by just being around with her energy, basically the fact she has so much energy helps me to stay motivated.”

Scruggs said he hasn’t run into any problems regarding Willow living with him.

“She had to be potty trained for the first month, which was a little rough, but it didn’t take as nearly as long as I would have thought,” he said.

If students want to apply for a support animal, certain actions must be taken through accessibility resources, Bradley said.

“An approval must be made and documentation from a mental health specialist must be included, which is then sent to us in housing,” Bradley said.

Even though she is small, Willow holds a big responsibility.

“Junior year for me was a difficult year,” Scruggs said. “I feel like she made it a lot easier there toward the end and now with my senior year, she’s made it a lot easier and a lot happier.”

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