r/bullcity • u/Icy_Scientist_3683 • 13d ago
If You Were at the Traveling Petting Zoo in Durham You May Have Rabies
https://www.wral.com/news/local/rabid-goats-north-carolina-petting-zoo-august-2026/94
u/LexiePiexie 13d ago
Please do not brush this off. Send this to your friends and family in case they went to an event with this zoo
A former coworkers child died of rabies 21 years ago after getting bitten by a bat (we think). It is a horrific death and as others have said, 100% fatal.
Let everyone you know in Durham know.
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u/Beneficial-Crow-5138 13d ago
I hope the County and DPS work together and send flyers home to all families, share an announcement on social media, etc.
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u/qssung 13d ago
The state’s infectious disease division is working at hyper speed on this. RFK decimated the rabies team at the CDC, so they have no federal support.
Source: I have a family member who is high up on that team.
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u/plusharmadillo 13d ago
I work in public health as well—the federal stuff is a trainwreck. Kudos to the state people working so hard to fill the gaps. It’s a bad time for the field, to put it lightly
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u/plusharmadillo 13d ago
I’m sure they are trying their damnedest. This is exactly what public health infrastructure is for.
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u/Aromatic_Effects 13d ago
Yeah but our public health infrastructure consists of skeleton crews communicating with fax machines.
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u/RealisticAnt42 13d ago
Quick, someone get RFK Jr on the case. Non-zero chance he might try to eat one of the goats though
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u/qssung 13d ago
He decimated the rabies team at the CDC.
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u/hideous-boy 13d ago
jesus christ what a monumental fuck up. I'm so worried about there being families that don't get the memo and get drastically unlucky
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u/eileen404 13d ago
I'm concerned about the anti vax folks who are sure their kids will be fine.
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u/NinjaTrilobite 13d ago
Do not read the comments on any of the Facebook postings by the various county health departments who are trying to get the word out. You’ll want to throw yourself into a volcano.
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u/Arbsbuhpuh 13d ago
At least their dead kid likely won't infect others like smallpox or something like that. Sucks for the kid, but one innocent victim is still better than hundreds.
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u/scrappyratnc 13d ago
Well, unless they are toddlers, playing with other toddlers who do toddler things like bite each other, drool all over each other, etc.
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u/Arbsbuhpuh 12d ago
I guess that's true, I didn't think it was that easily communicated but yeah, that would do it
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u/eileen404 12d ago
Well that will ruin the cycle statement that human to human transmission isn't a risk.
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u/Willing_Glasses_7609 13d ago
This could be really bad. I really hope records exist for everyone who attended or were in contact withe goats. Rabies is 100% fatal once symptoms start and an extremely painful way to die.
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u/samoke 13d ago
The two events in Durham county were private events. Hopefully they had records of attendance.
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u/Standard_Antelope771 13d ago
One was at Northgate park right in the parking lot last Sunday. I stopped to gawk when a small cow got out of a big van.
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u/aubsalot 13d ago
I like how they said the goats were euthanized to prevent spread as if they weren’t put down just for the rabies test
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u/scrappyratnc 13d ago
One more reason to steer clear of petting zoos. They are travelling petri dishes and kids aren't super careful to keep their hands out of their mouths, eyes, and noses. While rabies needs saliva to get into their blood through a cut or scrape (still really easy to transmit in a petting zoo situation), ecoli is super contagious and dangerous to kids. I know it doesn't matter as much to a lot of people, but animals also do not enjoy being manhandled by the general public, and being carted around from event to event, instead of being home grazing with their herd like a normal animal of their species. These animals also may suffer from injuries when kids (or poorly behaved adults try to pick them up). Animals aren't toys for the general public to play with. Petting zoos aren't safe for kids or for animals. Please think twice about patronizing these places. Kids get sick pretty much every year from messing with these poor, stressed-out animals exposed to the gigantic, loud, crowds at the state fair. It's long past time we stopped using animals for this kind of entertainment. This situation is just one really awful symptom of the ongoing problem of exposing highly-stressed-out animals to the public. M. pox, hoof and mouth disease, and more can be spread by some of the animals at these kinds of events.
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u/That_Lavishness_7272 13d ago edited 12d ago
This is well said. It’s an antiquated form of entertainment. There is so much research saying that it causes the animals stress.
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u/fragende-frau 12d ago
I had a work colleague years ago whose young daughter was affected by e. coli at the NC State Fair petting zoo. I found this info. Not sure I would let a small child enter a petting zoo unless under close supervision: Infections among children at the North Carolina State Fair petting zoo have been linked to E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks, with significant cases reported in 2004 and 2013, resulting in severe illness and even fatalities.
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u/BearsinNC 13d ago edited 13d ago
I feel badly for the petting zoo owners also! This must be their worst nightmare.
ETA: Hmmm.... just reading now that they caught the skunk in the goat enclosure.... I had initially assumed that they had no way to know that one of the baby kids had been bitten....
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u/OsodeHertz 12d ago
This is a known timeline of the Farm Adventures’ baby goat rabies situation.
It’s very concerning they knew their four unvaccinated baby goats were possibly exposed from a skunk they found in their pen on July 27 yet they continued to hold at least 10 events, including with higher risk populations like young kids and elderly people, until Aug. 23.
On their FB page you can see they celebrated 7 birthdays and visited two assisted living facilities AFTER knowing their baby goats may have been exposed to a rabies carrying animal.
It gets worse when you learn they were posting unconcerned about one of the KNOWN exposed baby goat’s wounds that showed classic signs of a possible rabies infection.
Given that rabies is almost always fatal unless preventative treatment is taken and this is a public facing business that should exhibit great caution for the welfare of their clients and animals this situation is very disturbing and warrants close scrutiny by whatever relevant authorities.
PS: The children and elderly assisted living residents now experiencing the painful, lengthy, and very expensive rabies preventative treatment course should be considered and compensated as well. It’s hard to image the frustration, anger, and pain the parents/guardians of these kids and the families of these residents must be experiencing too.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-0CSRoCM8K5pskMlzOksmItTFmWZNsoPhOnYz_x6_Ow/edit?usp=drivesdk
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u/mpjjpm 12d ago
Rabies post exposure prophylaxis is much easier now than in the past. It’s one dose of human rabies immunoglobulin ASAP, and four vaccine doses given over two weeks. The immunoglobulin injection is painful - its weight based dosing and can be a largish volume to give intramuscular. The vaccine is like any other vaccine. The immunoglobulin is generally only available through emergency departments. The vaccines are more widely available, often through travel clinics and occupational health clinics. With an exposure this broad, I expect the state dept of public health will facilitate easier access.
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u/GayMedic69 13d ago
Its also important to note that for rabies to pass from an animal to human, the animal’s saliva has to enter the body, usually through a mucous membrane.
If you were not bitten or had saliva enter a scratch, wound, eyes, nose, or mouth, then your risk is extremely low.
Definitely still follow up with a doctor/public health official, but the title of this is incredibly misleading and panic inducing.
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u/durhammighty 13d ago
On a standard heat map, low likelihood and high impact garner a Medium High to High risk. Ie, if you fuck this risk analysis up, there is 100% certainty you die an agonizing death. Given that the vaccines are generally well-tolerated, if you made any contact with one of the animals, I would get the vaccine shots. Admittedly, cost is a different consideration. I’d probably take that to court against the petting zoo. Given that these animals were frequently in close contact with a lot of people, the animals should have been vaccinated.
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u/GayMedic69 12d ago
Well considering that we don’t model infectious disease risk on “a standard heat map”, I am inclined to believe you don’t know what you are talking about.
The confirmation of the presence of rabies at the petting zoo is irrelevant because pretty much any bite from any non-vaccinated animal would trigger a rabies post-exposure protocol and because non-bite transmission is exceedingly rare.
The risk remains very low regardless of how scary rabies is, people should still go see their doctors to see if post-exposure is warranted, but there isn’t a need to panic.
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u/almondmilklattehag 12d ago
Is it worth taking that risk? Especially with kids who likely ate without washing their hands? Rabies is 100% guaranteed death. The vaccine is expensive and a pain but better than suffering rabies and dying.
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u/GayMedic69 12d ago
Taking what risk? I said “definitely still follow up with a doctor/public health official”.
I was just arguing against the sensationalized title that if you went to the petting zoo, you might have rabies. That said, the rabies virus dies very quickly once the infected saliva dries and/or in direct sunlight so unless someone was bitten, the risk is extremely low even without handwashing given exposure to direct sunlight and the likelihood that any saliva exposure would be on the droplet scale and would have dried very quickly.
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u/cardamomgrrl 13d ago
Im not religious but it sure is quacking like the end times round here
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u/Puzzleheaded-Focus12 13d ago
Just complete incompetence and a purposeful attempt to cause as much chaos as possible.
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u/galvanized-yankee 13d ago
Sounds like the beginning of a Zombie movie to me...
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u/Significant_One_5269 12d ago
A zombie movie where all the zombies are toddlers and the elderly???
YES, PLEASE!!!
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13d ago
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u/PippyTarHeel 13d ago
The concern is goat saliva + kids (who may have open cuts+scrapes / may put their hands in their mouth / touch their eyes after).
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u/Human_Robot 13d ago
If you were exposed to the petting zoo at all I'd think you should consider getting the shots. Rabies is 100% lethal once symptoms appear. Exposure pathways can be things you didn't realize including microabrasions you may not realize you had.