North Carolina Urges Rabies Checks After 4 Petting Zoo Goats Test Positive
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 29
North Carolina Urges Rabies Checks After 4 Petting Zoo Goats Test Positive
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 29
Summary
Four baby goats from Farm Adventures' traveling petting zoo tested positive for rabies after appearing at North Carolina events between July 28 and Aug. 27, and the animals were euthanized.
State health officials told anyone who visited the zoo in Harmony or encountered the goats at off-site events to contact local health departments to determine whether post-exposure treatment is needed.
Farm Adventures said a skunk got into the goats' pen and bit them; the goats were too young to be vaccinated and had been kept separate from the rest of the animals.
Officials did not say how many people may have been exposed or list the event locations, though they said the mobile zoo visited multiple counties and interacted with children and elderly people.
Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms begin, but human cases remain rare in the U.S.; North Carolina has not recorded a positive human case since 2011.