Got Your Goat?

(August 2009) If you take your dog to a state park in New York state, you’re accustomed to producing a current rabies vaccination certificate for each dog you have with you. At least one city park, in Owego, even puts a policeman at the entrance to the Tioga County Kennel Club show in August and they will turn away anyone trying to bring in dogs without proof of vaccination. Lots of people don't travel with the rabies certificates, and there are occasional scenes when people who have traveled quite a distance discover — the hard way — that the entry form meant what it said about the need to bring rabies certificates.

Why, you might ask, is Owego, which just this summer was named "America’s Coolest Small Town" by Budget Travel Magazine, going to extra lengths to irk a fairly large number of people who have driven quite a distance, in some cases, to spend time and money in Owego?

Blame the goat.

The goat?

Yes. The goat. At least, that’s the tale we were told... A few years ago, the Village of Owego — to use its formal name — had a summer event at the park. This event included a petting zoo, and the petting zoo was very popular. We hear that children by the hundreds flocked to it to see the animals and to get in plenty of, well, petting.

Unfortunately, it seems that one of the goats — everyone wants to pet the goat, right? — was in the early stages of rabies. When this was discovered, the Village of Owego had to find all the children who had attended and pay to have them treated with the series of anti-rabies shots. It caused a local uproar, nearly panic so we hear, and was very, very, very expensive. Naturally, the Village of Owego is determined that such a thing will never, ever, happen again.

And that’s why dog people can blame the goat for the long line at the entry gate to the Tioga County dog show each August.