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Home › Articles › Health Issues › Petting Zoos and Your Child's Health

Petting Zoos and Your Child's Health

Is It Safe to Take Children to Pet the Animals?

By Kathleen Meister

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The New York State Department of Health would approve of Pien's precautions. They recommend that hand-to-mouth activities such as eating, drinking, smoking and carrying toys and pacifiers should be forbidden in animal contact areas. They also say that hand washing is the single most effective way to minimize the chance of acquiring an intestinal infection from animals, and they recommend that running water, soap and paper towels should be available within and next to all animal contact areas at petting zoos.

Unfortunately, these facilities aren't always available -- especially at temporary or seasonal exhibits such as fairs and farm tours. I ran into this problem several years ago when I helped escort my son's nursery school class on a field trip to a farm animal exhibit in New Jersey. After the children petted the lambs, milked the cow and chased the chickens around their pen, the staff escorted us directly to the picnic area, without giving us a chance to clean up.

The adults in our group responded to this situation exactly the way you might expect: We all pulled baby wipes out of our diaper bags and used them to clean our hands and our children's hands before lunch. Baby wipes really aren't adequate, though. "Baby wipes and gel sanitizers have not been officially sanctioned as being able to kill the germs that might be on children's hands after attending a petting zoo," Pien says. Washing hands with soap and water is preferable.

Too Young?
Keeping your child's hands away from his mouth while he's in anial contact areas is very important. But this can be difficult to accomplish with some young children. If your child constantly puts his fingers in his mouth or if he can't live without his pacifier, you may want to consider postponing your family's visit to a petting zoo until he is a bit older. You may also want to think twice about taking your child to a petting zoo if you will have to supervise other children at the same time. Your child needs to be watched at every moment when he's around animals.


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