Four Baby Goats at NC Mobile Petting Zoo Test Positive for Rabies, State Traces Exposure to Skunk Bite

Four baby goats named Molly, Maggie, Cow and Uno tested positive for rabies after a mobile petting zoo based in Harmony, North Carolina, unknowingly exposed the public to the virus for nearly a month.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services were first notified on August 27. The state lab confirmed rabies in three of the goats on August 28; the fourth was not tested but is presumed infected, according to NCDHHS.

The petting zoo, Farm Adventures, said the goats were bitten by a skunk that got into their pen in late July. The goats were too young to be vaccinated, so they were kept in a separate enclosure. Owner Misty Love told WSOC-TV the skunk got in through gaps in the fencing and that the animals showed no obvious symptoms at the time.

"It was a skunk," Love said. "It went through the holes. We don't know and it's devastating."

NCDHHS says anyone who had direct contact with the baby goats, either at the Harmony location or at off-site events, between July 28 and August 27 should contact their local health department. That window covers stops in Statesville, Lexington, Watauga County, Burke County, Mocksville, and two separate visits to Durham County on August 16 and August 23, according to WRAL.

CNN reported the exposure may have occurred across roughly 10 locations, including an assisted living facility and a back-to-school bash in Lexington. AppHealthCare, the health department covering Alleghany, Ashe and Watauga counties, confirmed one specific site: a birthday party in Boone on August 8. The department says it is individually contacting attendees and has set up a dedicated line, (828) 795-1970, for anyone who thinks they attended.

The Iredell County Health Department has also opened an after-hours line, 704-878-3037, and NCDHHS has a call center at 336-242-2371 for the broader public.

Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but preventive treatment works if given before that happens, according to NCDHHS and the CDC. Symptoms can take weeks to months to show up, starting with flu-like illness, weakness, fever, headache, or a prickling sensation at the exposure site.

Mecklenburg County Health Director Kimberly Scott told CNN that healthcare systems in the affected counties currently have enough postexposure prophylaxis on hand and are positioned to get more if needed. "What's important is that we don't wait for the onset of symptoms when it is more difficult to treat and often most fatal," Scott said.

Officials are careful to note this isn't a general public health emergency. "There is not a broad risk to the public, only those who attended events at the mobile petting zoo and were in close contact with the goats are at risk," NCDHHS said, according to CNN.

North Carolina hasn't had a confirmed human rabies case since 2011. The CDC says roughly 100,000 Americans get rabies shots annually after possible exposures, calling the disease rare but serious.

A reasonable critic could ask why a petting zoo with animals too young for rabies vaccination didn't have tighter perimeter security, especially given that skunks are among the most common rabies carriers in North Carolina, according to the CDC. Love herself called the fencing failure "devastating."

But the record here doesn't show negligence or a cover-up. Iredell Free News reported the owner "has been fully cooperative" with state and county officials, and NCDHHS confirmed the farm reported the illness and requested testing on its own once goats started showing signs. Love told WSOC-TV that after the first goat died, she sent its body for testing rather than waiting or ignoring it. All remaining animals on the farm are now under quarantine, and Love said staff and family members have gotten rabies boosters.

Most outlets, including WRAL, NBC News and NCDHHS itself, stuck to the exposure window, locations and medical guidance. Fox News padded its report with unrelated items about a rabid beaver attack in New Jersey and rabid beaver cases in Maryland, which have nothing to do with the North Carolina goats and add confusion rather than context.

CNN was the only outlet to include an on-the-record quote from a county health director laying out actual PEP supply levels, a detail that matters to anyone genuinely exposed.

The investigation is ongoing. NCDHHS says it will release more exposure locations as county health departments confirm them, and AppHealthCare says it is still working to determine whether the Boone birthday party was the only stop within its three-county coverage area. Anyone who had contact with the goats at any of the confirmed sites between July 28 and August 27 is being told not to wait for symptoms before calling a health department.