Petting zoos can be a lot of fun for kids. They’re a teaching tool as well, helping kids have experiential learning opportunities about farm animals & agricultural life.
But they also come with real risks. Germs like E. coli, which live in the gut of many farm animals, can spread easily in these settings. These infections can cause severe stomach illness, kidney damage, long hospital stays, and in some cases can even be deadly.
CDC has written many reports over the years showing outbreaks linked to petting zoos.
Enteric Disease Outbreaks Associated with Animal Contact — Animal Contact Outbreak Surveillance System, United States, 2009–2021 | MMWR
Outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Associated with Petting Zoos — North Carolina and Florida, 2004 and 2005
When I worked at the ADHS in jobs ranging from disease control epidemiologist to agency director we took this risk seriously. For years, we made it standard practice to send our vector-control staff to the State Fair before opening day. Our goal was simple: make sure the petting zoo area had the basic protections needed to keep kids safe.
We didn’t license petting zoos, and we didn’t have enforcement power. But the State Fair always welcomed our help, and they followed our recommendations. Those steps were not complicated. They included:
- Barriers to guide visitors in and out safely.
- Limits on how many kids could be inside the animal area at one time.
- Hand-washing sinks with running water, soap, and paper towels at both the entrance and exit.
- A staff monitor on-site to watch behavior and make sure kids wash their hands on the way out.
These simple steps helped prevent outbreaks. Unfortunately, the department appears to have dropped this best practice. This year Arizona kids paid the price.
During the 2025 Arizona State Fair, a major E. coli outbreak occurred among children who visited the petting zoo. According to news reports there have been many cases linked to the exhibit, and several kids were hospitalized with serious complications. Some were diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a kind of kidney injury that can be life-threatening.
Parents reported long delays in learning about exposures, and public warnings went out only after many children were already sick.
coli outbreak at Arizona State Fair may have started with pig
coli cases tied to Arizona State Fair didn’t trigger public warning
This outbreak was preventable. Nothing about it was new or surprising. CDC research, state outbreak investigations from around the country, and decades of experience all say the same thing: petting zoos need basic controls in place to reduce risk — especially when little kids (and pigs) are involved.
The 2025 outbreak demonstrates that Arizona can’t rely on safety practices that disappear when health department leadership changes. The State Fair runs for weeks and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. Any high-contact animal exhibit of that size should meet a minimum set of health and safety rules.
It’s time for Arizona to put simple, proven standards into law for long-standing exhibits like those at the state fair. Kids deserve protection, parents deserve transparency, and vendors deserve clear expectations.
I did a bit of research about what other states have in place and wrote a short model law (with some help from Chat GPT) and sent it to a state senator for consideration this session.
Perhaps you’ll hear about the bill in an upcoming policy update during the legislative session.
State Laws Requiring Hand Sanitation Stations at Animal Contact Exhibits—United States, March–April 2016 | MMWR
Compendium of Measures to Prevent Disease Associated with Animals in Public Settings, 2009 – National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians
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TITLE 36. PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY
CHAPTER 6. ANIMAL CONTACT EXHIBITS
ARTICLE 16. LONG-TERM PETTING ZOOS
36-799. Definitions
- “Long-term petting zoo” means any animal-contact exhibit or activity open to the public for a continuous period of more than seven (7) days.
- “Operator” means any person, partnership, corporation, fair, or other entity that owns or manages a long-term petting zoo.
- “Animal-contact area” means any enclosure, pen, stall, walkway, or other space where the public may touch or otherwise have direct contact with live animals.
36-799.01. Minimum sanitation and safety requirements
- No operator shall open or maintain a long-term petting zoo for public use in this state unless the following minimum conditions are continuously maintained while the exhibit is open:
- Controlled access and egress: sturdy barriers or fencing shall be installed to create a unidirectional visitor flow with one entrance and one exit to the animal-contact area.
- Occupancy limit: the operator shall limit the number of children (persons under eighteen years of age) inside the animal-contact area at any one time to a maximum number determined by the operator in writing and posted at the entrance; in no case shall more than twenty (20) children occupy the area simultaneously, unless a lower limit is posted.
- Hand-washing facilities: hand-washing stations with potable running water, liquid soap, and single-use disposable towels shall be provided at both the entrance and the exit of the animal-contact area. These stations must be maintained in functional, sanitary conditions throughout operating hours.
- On-site monitoring: at least one staff monitor per twenty (20) children (or fraction thereof) shall be present in or adjacent to the animal-contact area during all hours of public access; the monitor’s duties shall include enforcing proper handwashing of all visitors upon exit and supervising animal-contact behavior to prevent unsanitary or unsafe conduct.
- The operator shall keep a written record of the posted occupancy limit and of the dates and times during which each monitor is on duty; such records shall be retained for a period of at least twelve (12) months and made available for inspection by authorized personnel upon request.
36-799.02. Enforcement and penalty
- The Arizona Department of Health Services Director shall have authority and responsibility to inspect long-term petting zoos for compliance with this article.
B. Any operator found to be in violation of one or more provisions of this Article shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to five hundred dollars ($500) per day per exhibit until the violation is corrected.
C. The Director may adopt rules necessary to implement and enforce this article, consistent with the minimum requirements set forth here.
