Service goat gets stamp of approval

WNYT – HUDSON FALLS, N.Y. (WNYT) - A Hudson Falls, New York man wasn't about to sit around and let his village get his goat on Monday night. And they didn't.

Even though "getting one's goat" is slang for annoying someone or making them angry, and even though the slang definition applies, Greg Cutler was literally determined to make sure nobody got his goat.

When Coca Rose came into his life about six months ago, it meant the world to Cutler.

"It kind of snuck up on me," Cutler says, "All of a sudden we were blessed with this animal. It turned out to be a lot more fun then you would think."

Coca Rose is no ordinary goat. She happens to be a legally registered emotional support animal, which Greg says he needs to cope with his debilitating Parkinson's Disease.

Ever since Coca Rose first sat on his lap when she only a few days old, they began bonding, and the woman who introduced them, Greg's home health aide Carol Maynard-Terrio, says Greg's Parkinson's symptoms, at times, disappear.

"When he's holding the goat, he didn't have the tremors," she says, "He was just excited about a new thing in life."