www.ohca.com FALL/WINTER 2022 The Oregon Caregiver 17 LEGAL & REGULATORY and maintenance of their animals and community staff are not required to provide care for or supervise animals, unless pet or animal care is a service offered by the community. Likewise, residents remain responsible for any damage or injury caused by their animals and communities may charge for those damages. Communities may also ask for the removal of an animal, including a service or assistance animal, if it is out of control, not housebroken, or poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others, such as biting or displays of aggressive behaviors towards others. However, when it comes to service or assistance animals, communities may not exclude them based on general fears, assumptions, or stereotypes about the breed. Similarly, communities cannot automatically bar a service or assistance animal because another resident is allergic to the animal. The community will need to engage in an interactive process with each resident to see if it can reasonably accommodate both residents, such as agreed-upon dog-free zones. As with any interactive process, this is a fact-specific balancing requirement that may have differing results based on the situation at hand. Regardless of whether the animal is a pet, an emotional support animal, or a service animal, it is important for residents to ask themselves whether they can independently care for and maintain their animal and consider what will happen to the animal if its resident owner can no longer care for it. To avoid a situation where a beloved animal may be deemed abandoned or neglected and sent to a shelter, residents may want to designate a loved one or a friend to pick up and care for the animal when the resident is transferred, discharged, or no longer in a position to care for the animal. Communities may also want to manage expectations on their end by proactively asking the resident to designate a person at the time of move-in and outline in the residency agreement or pet/animal policies that the community may board the animal and charge for any costs incurred if the designated person does not remove or care for the animal. Clearly communicating the resident and community’s respective rights and responsibilities prior to move-in, upon move-in, and throughout the residency will help ensure residents and their best friends have a safe, enjoyable stay at the community.
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