Are Petting Zoos Safe?

Q: Is it safe to take my kids to a petting zoo? I’ve heard horror stories about children getting sick and dying after feeding the animals.

A: Petting zoos provide opportunities for children and adults to learn about and experience animals, but also may expose humans to E. coli, salmonella, Cryptosporidium and Campylobacter — bacteria that live in the intestinal tracts of some animals and shed in the animal’s feces. These organisms make their way into the digestive tracts of the human visitors and cause serious illness.

This should not let you rob your children of the experience. Nearly all of the risk can be mitigated by good hand-washing immediately after leaving the petting zoo or with liberal use of a liquid hand sanitizer.

Dr. Brent Ridge is the health expert for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. You can call and ask him a question live every Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern on Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 112 (1.866.675.6675). You can also follow along as he learns to grow his own food, raise goats, and make goat milk soap on his farm in upstate New York by visiting www.beekman1802.com.

Got a health question for Dr. Brent? E-mail him at drbrent@care2.com.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

KS G.

12:14AM PST on Feb 25, 2012

Thanks for the article.

send a green star

paula e.

1:57AM PST on Feb 24, 2012

Petting zoos are not well regulated. If you see animals neglected or abused call the authorities or humane society.

Howard C.

9:06AM PST on Jan 25, 2012

My wife and I are foster parents, so have brought up quite a few children. We always encourage them to wash their hands regularly and when we take them to a petting zoo we always carry hand wipes so that they can wipe their hands between petting animals in different enclosures. Interacting with animals is great for children, it teaches them allsorts of important lessons including, if it the visit is structure properly, respect for other creatures. Providing that the animals are kept in decent conditions I do not believe that they suffer greatly from the experience.

Suzanne L.

8:55AM PST on Jan 25, 2012

You can probably tell if a petting zoo is pretty safe just by looking at how the animals are kept and their condition. Look at the water and food bowls. Are they clean or not? Look at the cages or fenced in areas. Is the bedding fresh or not. Look at the animals. Are they healthy looking, clean, no runny eyes or noses? Children who are raised on farms have a significantly lower rate of allergies, so exposure to animals at early ages seems a good thing. If you want to take kids to a petting zoo and you're concerned about germs just bring along some hand sanitizer. If the petting zoo looks bad, report it.

Suze O.

6:47AM PST on Jan 23, 2012

The article did not mention the fact that children carry many germs and viruses, how many of these cross the barrier to harm the animals. My point, what about the health of the animals being handled by many humans. Pethaps the humans need to clean hands with gels, etc. prior to handling the animals.

Teresa W.

6:27AM PST on Jan 23, 2012

What did you mean, Carey?