A Perth restaurant has come under fire after denying entry to a US war veteran and his service dog.
David Pearce and his English labrador, Gunner, were denied entry to Chinese restaurant Juicy Bao Bao on Friday.
Gunner is a certified service dog who helps Pearce through life as he suffers from PTSD, hearing loss and a brain injury.
“I tried to explain he’s a service dog and they have to allow us in and they said no service dogs, the owner doesn’t want any dogs,” Pearce said
“It was embarrassing, [and] a bit humiliating.”
Pearce sustained his injuries while serving in Iraq and Syria.
He has been in the US military for nearly 20 years. He and Gunner have been “best buddies” for nine years.
“He’s saved my life a couple of times,” Pearce said.
Pearce has submitted an official complaint to the Western Australian government following the incident.
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Juicy Bao Bao manager Elaine Hsu took responsibility for the decision to not let Pearce enter the store.
“That was my personal decision so that’s my fault,” she told 9News.
“We want to sincerely apologise to him and we want to ask him to come here [for a] free meal.
“[We will] make sure this [does] not happen again.”
The restaurant has been flooded with negative reviews since Pearce came forward with his story.
“I’m not really interested in a free meal, although some dumplings would go down really nicely,” Pearce said.
“I’m just happy that they’re changing their policy.”
Assistance and service dogs are legally allowed to enter any public venue if their accreditation is displayed on their vest with a service animal ID on hand.
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