{"id":1391,"date":"2015-02-22T10:10:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-22T10:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bostonzest.com\/?p=1391"},"modified":"2015-02-22T10:10:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-22T10:10:00","slug":"lend-your-support-to-allowing-dogs-cats-on-amtrak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bostonzest.com\/?p=1391","title":{"rendered":"Lend Your Support to Allowing Dogs & Cats on Amtrak"},"content":{"rendered":"

We know that our family would travel more if the entire family were allowed to travel by train. Right now, there is a pilot program under way in Illinois and a bill pending in the US House (The Pets on Trains Act of 2015, or H.R. 674<\/a>) that would begin to allow some people with dogs and cats to ride on Amtrak<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Poppy waiting for a ride on the MBTA<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Our Westie Poppy is welcome on the MBTA outside of rush hours. All our dogs have been passengers on ferries in Boston Harbor, Provincetown, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and in Portland Maine. We have never witnessed an incident with dogs on any of these trips. And, on ferries, there is no size limit and no carrier is required.<\/p>\n

If you think opening the rails to people with companion animals is a good idea, please contact your representatives in Congress and the President to ask for their support and quick action on the Pets on Trains Act of 2015, or H.R. 674.<\/a>  You can find the addresses here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Responsible Access Only, Please<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not all dogs are appropriate passengers on all mass transit systems. And, it is often the worst case scenarios and most irresponsible people who ruin something like this for the rest of us. We would love to see a registry for dogs and cats allowed to participate, with microchip scanning as a part of the ticketed access.<\/p>\n

This way you would only have to sign the responsibility waiver once and any person with a dog who jeopardizes the future of the program could be barred. It would be much better to have barriers to behavior than to size. <\/p>\n

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Here's Poppy in the back of a Zipcar. We do all we can to be sure her presence is not a problem for the next member to reserve the car.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Learn More and Take Action<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please take the time to learn a bit more about the value of this program to: those of us with companion animals, the environment, and businesses, then contact those who can make it happen.<\/a> (As of this writing, our Representative, Michael Capuano of Massachusetts, is a co-sponsor of the bill, so we'll be sending him our support and thanks.)<\/p>\n