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American Morning
Petting Zoo Hazards
Aired April 20, 2001 - 10:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN: Parents of small children are going to want to listen to this next story: a warning about deadly bacteria. E. coli and other bugs, turns out, could lurk in places that you'd least expect.
Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, takes a look at what you might find at your local petting zoo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It seemed lick the perfect outing: Last fall Eileen Sweeney took her children, Shannon and Michael, to a Pennsylvania petting zoo.
EILEEN SWEENEY: We went on a hay ride because it was October and we were going to a pumpkin patch. And we went and we petted the animals, and then on a hay ride. We had a really good day, and then a couple days later Michael developed diarrhea; and within days of his diarrhea his diapers with filled with blood -- pure blood.
COHEN: Sweeney says her son almost died.
SWEENEY: He was in full renal failure. He had to have -- the kidney team was waiting for us and he to have immediate blood transfusions. COHEN: Michael was diagnosed with E. coli poisoning. His sister got sick too, although not as severely.
Investigators later found E. coli in the animals at the petting zoo, but the farmers didn't know, since the bacteria doesn't make animals sick. In all, 51 people became ill after visiting the farm. The head of that farm says he had no idea people could get E. coli just by touching animals, and he's changing that zoo to look, but don't pet.
(on camera): Officials say this outbreak, and one last year in Washington state, are just the tip of iceberg. So now they're issuing federal guidelines for petting zoos.
(voice-over): One recommendation: Provide a place for people to wash their hands. At the Pennsylvania farm, according to the CDC report, handwashing facilities lacked soap and disposable towels, were out of reach of children, were few in number and unsupervised.
Another CDC recommendation: Don't let people eat while having contact with the animals.
DR. JOHN CRUMP, CDC: The children were becoming infected with E. coli O-157 by petting the animals and then placing their unwashed hands in and around their mouths, such as eating amongst the animals or even just touching their mouths directly.
COHEN: During a trip to a petting zoo outside Atlanta, we saw just that: Families purchased food, fed the animals, and then themselves. A spokesman for the petting zoo says he thinks people are overly concerned.
ART RILLING, PETTING ZOO SPOKESMAN: If you need something to worry about, if you don't have anything else, I'd be happy.
COHEN: But at this farm in Pennsylvania, near the one the Sweeneys visited, the owners are worried; and so they've turned their petting zoo into a regular zoo, with no touching. He says he doesn't want any more children to get sick -- no more children like Michael Sweeney, who nearly died after a trip to a petting zoo.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: You might be wondering: What are state health departments doing to protect people at petting zoos? Well, they CDC says they're not aware of a single state with any laws regarding petting zoos.
KAGAN: Which means it's going to leave it in the hands of parents.
COHEN: Exactly.
KAGAN: What kind of conditions should parents look for when they take their kid to a petting zoo?
COHEN: Well, let me tell you what I saw when I went to a petting zoom. We shot at a petting zoo this week, and let's take a look. What we saw was the kids were feeding the animals. Here, you see some serious slobber on this child's hands.
KAGAN: Lovely.
COHEN: And then the kids, you know, this was people food they were giving them. So then the kids were eating the crackers themselves. So the same hands that fed the animals also fed the children. And you don't have been to be a molecular biologist to figure out that that can spread germs. And so that is exactly what the CDC says not to do.
Now, I do have to add that the American Zoo Association does have guidelines similar to the CDC, so accredited, full-scale zoos that have petting zoos often are following those guidelines.
KAGAN: But meanwhile, nothing's going to replace parents being a little vigilant out there.
COHEN: Exactly. Supervision, lots of supervision.
KAGAN: Elizabeth, thank you.
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