Same here. Terrible phobia.
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Iām so pleased to hear that. (Well, itās awful for you, but you know what I mean). Iāve only ever known a few people with the same problem so I tended to think I was weird so itās a relief to know Iām not alone.
Beaches, walks in the woods, dining al fresco and many more - all things that most people do that I canāt.
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I saw a funny (or not) post on the landlord subreddit a few days ago. It was a tenant posting. Apparently she had rented an apartment, then got an ESA in preparation to move into the apartment, but then found out that the landlord is exempt from the FHA rules. Her question was, āso what I am supposed to do with this pet now?ā. 
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Worse experience ever? Walking through St. Markās Square in Venice. Vendors sell feed that tourists get to entice the pigeons and people try to get the dang flying rats to land on them for a photo op They are so thick on the ground that you can hardly walk without stepping on them. My husband had to pick me up and carry me through there. Luckily I only weighed about 115 pounds then.
Sequence of terror from least to worst: birds walking on ground, birds flying, birds flying at me, dead birds. Dead birds really, really freak me out. It makes no sense, but there it is.
I could not, ever, ever, ever do that. In the UK, many city centres have a few (nothing like the amount in Venice) but thatās bad enough for me. When my granddaughter was little she used to love frightening them away for me.
Youāre not alone. For SEVEN YEARS I didnāt go into my own backyard after seeing a dead bird there.
I had a inquiry once where the person wanted to bring their bunny rabbit. I donāt have anything against bunnies OUTSIDE as they poop indiscriminately, but what really stopped the inquiry cold was I told her that our dog would hurt it if it could get to it. And since we have open stairwell, I could not promise anything. The truth is I was sugar coating what could happen based on what I saw the dog do in our old backyard. So glad she told us beforehand!
Iām an avid bird lover, but I fear and loathe balloons - especially helium balloons (but not water balloons) more than snakes, tarantulas or most ādisgustingā things. ( minor, but oft repeated childhood trauma). Every year my high school students were schooled and directed NOT to have birthday balloons delivered, or to bring them into the classroom. Not even the rowdiest kids ever did.
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I was attacked by my great auntās pet crow when I was 2 years old. I was small for my age so the crow seemed huge. It knocked me over and was flogging me with its wings. It wasnāt pecking me ā maybe it didnāt mean to attack but just land on me and was too big for my little self and knocked me over. Anyway, whatever the crowās motivation, I was terrified.
Up to that point, we had had a pet budgie named Jerry. My Mom had him from before I was born. He was very tame. He rode around on my back when I was crawling. He sat on the side of my bassinet when I was an infant. When I started walking, he untied my shoes laces so Mom had to get those plastic things ā shoelace keepers, I think they are called ā and use them so Jerry wouldnāt be able to cause me to fall because of untying my laces.
After the incident with the crow, Mom had to give Jerry to her Mom because I could not stand to have him in the house.
Edited to correct the darn autocorrect!
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That indeed sounds like a terrifying thing for a child to experience and a hard trauma to overcome.
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If they can go on a trip without the service animal with them at all times, it likely is not a service animal.
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That is awful! My experience was similar but it was several small birds. They didnāt attack me as such but flew into my face. I have goosepimples thinking about it.
And we had a budgie that my mum had to get rid of too.
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While I agree with that from a hosting perspective it is not necessarily true. I had a friend who was on Active Duty in the US Army who had a Service Dog. He was still able to travel without the dog for the army. It was the one time I actually contacted his command to check on him based on me knowing he didnāt have his Service Dog with him, our conversations during that time and then an abrupt end to all communication. Luckily, it was ok but it was definitely a wake up call for him to decide to retire.
Luckily, the Airbnb rules require that Service Animals not be left alone in the home so you can always use that to get compliance or at least possible compensation should the situation dictate.