Petting zoos can make children sick
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:
PLANT CITY, Florida–At least six lawsuits filed against
Ag-Venture Farms and the Florida Strawberry Festival, both of Plant
City, may hasten the demise of petting zoos. Two sheep, two cows,
and a goat exhibited by Ag-Venture Farms at the Florida Strawberry
Festival, the Florida State Fair near Tampa, and the Central
Florida fair in Orlando allegedly infected 30 to 80 visitors with an
often disabling and sometimes deadly form of e-coli bacteria during
March and April 2005, said the Florida Health Department.
The bacterium attacks the kidneys of victims, causing
hemolytic uremic syndrome, a severely painful condition that in
early stages is often mistaken for a stomach flu. Many victims are
incapacitated for life.
About 90% of the ill petting zoo patrons were children. How
many will suffer longterm effects is uncertain. There were no
verified fatalities. Tests failed to confirm a suspected link to the
March 2005 death of Kayla Nicole Sutter, 12, of Wesley Chapel, who
visited the Florida Strawberry Festival.
All 37 Ag-Venture Animals “will be quarantined for the rest
of their lives,” health officials told Saundra Amrhein of the St.
Petersburg Times.