Request By:
Hon. William Murphy Howard
County Attorney
Courthouse Building, Room 5
Harlan, Kentucky 40831
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of February 15, 1979, in which you refer to the fact that since 1954 dogs are required to be licensed by the dog warden and in 1978 a statute was passed requiring dogs to be vaccinated against rabies and tagged. Your question is as follows:
"Must a dog wear two (2) tags, one issued by the veterinarian and another by the dog warden in order to be within the state law?"
The answer to your question would be in the affirmative. KRS 258.145 requires all dogs of a certain age to be licensed by the State Department of Agriculture through the dog warden or agents of the department, and each dog is required to carry a dog tag. At the same time pursuant to KRS 258.115 which is administered by the State Department of Health all dogs of a certain age are also required to be vaccinated and carry a tag of identification. The vaccination tag has, however, been in effect since 1954 the same year the dog license was passed and orgiinally was administered by the Department of Agriculture. KRS 258.115 was amended in 1978 to provide, among other things, that the tag shall bear the year of expiration of the immunization period after January 1, 1980.