NC traveling petting zoo goats test positive for rabies

Several baby goats from a traveling petting zoo tested positive for rabies; the owner of the goats is calling the incident “a nightmare.”

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Owner Misty Love blames a skunk for exposing the animals to rabies.

They were too young to get a rabies vaccine, so they were kept in the pen to isolate them from wild animals.

“It went through the holes. We don’t know, and it’s devastating,” Love explained, according to WSOC.

WSOC reported it got into a pen where the animals were kept. Love posted on social media that the skunk bit the goats, but she was not aware of it.

She said the goats were jumping around and playing, so she thought they were OK, but several weeks later, a couple of animals got sick. They weren’t, however, showing what she said were typical signs of rabies.

Love said the petting zoo is in quarantine.

Iredell County officials said in a news release, “While rabies transmission from livestock carries a lower overall risk than bites from wild vectors, the virus is transmitted through saliva. Because baby goats are frequently bottle-fed, handled closely, or cuddled, public health officials are working proactively to ensure anyone who had direct contact with the affected animals is evaluated.”

There have been no human cases of rabies in North Carolina since 2011, the state health department said in a separate news release.

She also said the situation has been difficult for the business after the story was covered by The New York Times and CNN.

“A nightmare,” Love said, according to WSOC. “When somebody tries to do a good deed and do what’s right for the public and get trashed constantly, it’s hard.”

ABC News reported that no one has reported being infected by the baby goats.