Petting zoos are dangerous for visitors and cruel for animals

By Lethbridge Herald on September 20, 2024.

Editor:

“Coulee Fest welcomes public to Polytechnic campus” – no one should underestimate the risks associated with petting zoos and hands-on animal displays, including the organizers of the Coulee Fest.

Petting zoos are hotbeds of E. coli bacteria, and numerous children have been infected with the bug after visiting such displays. Symptoms can include bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping, vomiting and fever. It can be fatal.

Children and adults alike have contracted E. coli after petting animals or simply touching the surroundings near a display. The bacteria have been found on railings, bleachers and even sawdust.

These displays are bad for animals, too. Forced to interact with constant streams of excited and sometimes careless children, animals in petting zoos can be stressed and exhausted.

If event organizers want to avoid potential liability nightmares, they’ll stick with monster trucks and bouncy houses and leave cruel and dangerous petting zoos in the “bad idea” file.

Jennifer O’Connor 

Senior Writer PETA Foundation

Norfolk, VA