North Carolina health officials are warning anyone who visited a mobile petting zoo to seek medical advice after several baby goats tested positive for rabies. The animals belonged to Farm Adventures, a travelling petting zoo based in Harmony, North Carolina, which held events across multiple counties attended by children and elderly visitors. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is asking anyone who had contact with the goats to contact their local health department to assess whether preventative treatment is needed, while it continues notifying event organisers and investigating further.

Farm Adventures said four goats — named Molly, Maggie, Cow and Uno — contracted rabies after a skunk got into their enclosure before they were old enough to be vaccinated; the goats showed no symptoms at the time and were later euthanised once the infection was confirmed by the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health. Anyone with contact between 28 July and 27 August is being urged to come forward. Rabies is almost always fatal without treatment before symptoms appear, though human cases are extremely rare in the US, and North Carolina has recorded none since 2011.