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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.
The first petting zoo to close as result of ensuing public concern was
Barnyard Friends, of Samsula, near Daytona Beach––a non-traveling
menagerie of about 200 animals founded in 1995 by International Speedway
Corporation director of community affairs Donna Sue Sanders.
“There were no reports of anyone getting sick after visiting Barnyard
Friends. Hand-washing and cleanliness were always top priorities,”
wrote Kevin P. Connolly of the Orlando Sentinel. But Barnyard Friends
was unable to withstand the many field trip cancellations that followed
the e-coli outbreak.
“Most of the animals will go with Sanders when she moves from Samsula
to a 13-acre parcel where she and husband are building a home near Lake
Ashby in Osteen,” Connolly reported.
At least three other petting zoos were struggling, Connelly indicated.
The Florida e-coli outbreak was the second linked to a petting zoo in
under six months. Lawsuits are pending against the Crossroads Farm petting
zoo in Bear Creek, North Carolina, identified as the source of an e-coli
outbreak that hit 108 visitors to the 2004 North Carolina State Fair in
West Raleigh.
“Twenty-four outbreaks have been linked to fairs and petting zoos
since 1995,” said plaintiffs’ attorney William Marler, of Marler
Clark, a Seattle firm that specializes in e-coli contamination cases.
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture on April 21 announced new
rules that will minimize animal contact with visitors during the 2005
state far. “The petting zoos this year will be nearly wallpapered
with signs warning that contact with animals can spread disease––especially
to young children, the elderly, pregnant women and sick people––and
encouraging patrons to wash their hands before leaving,” summarized
Raleigh News & Observer staff writer Kristin Collins.
But the new rules are not binding upon private organizations that operate
on private property, Collins noted.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention published non-binding
guidelines for traveling animal shows in April 2002, after tracing e-coli
outbreaks that occurred in 2000 to a dairy farm in Pennsylvania and a
petting zoo in Washington state.
An outbreak of another potentially deadly bacterial infection, cryptospiridium,
in March and April 2005 afflicted 104 people who had either recently visited
the Auching-arrich Wildlife Centre near Comrie, Scotland, or were members
of visitors’ families.
The CDCP warned in early May that small mammals acquired as “pocket
pets” have recently infected at least 30 people in 10 states with
an antibiotic-resistant strain of salmonellosis. The outbreak was believed
to be carried by hamsters, mice, rats, and possibly gerbils, guinea pigs,
ferrets, and rabbits.
This followed an April warning that nine people in five states developed
salmonellosis after handling Easter chicks. Six cases were traced to a
single hatchery in New Mexi-co. Children were infected in New Mexico,
Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Traveling petting zoos often feature rabbits and chicks around Easter,
but whether there was a petting zoo connection to the salmonellosis outbreaks
was unclear.
