The Ridiculousness of It All!

The ThisIsCornwall online newspaper today had a story about the possible demise of one of childhood's grand pleasures: visiting a petting zoo and feeding and petting all the animals (thus the name "petting" zoo). Why is this?

Apparently some children became ill with E. Coli after visiting a farm in England. So the British Farming Minister has decided that the animals shouldn't be touched any more. Here is the story in full:

"CHILDREN should be banned from touching animals on petting farms in a bid to halt the spread of E.coli, says the Government.

Farming minister Jim Fitzpatrick said preventing youngsters from coming into direct contact with livestock was a "common sense" precaution which would still allow farm visits to go ahead.

His call comes as attractions report a drop in visitor numbers, with concerned parents staying away.

The outbreak of E.coli O157 last month forced the closure of the World of Country Life attraction in Exmouth, Devon. Its walk-in pet centre has now reopened with approval from the Health Protection Agency after numerous tests concluded there were no direct links to the virus."*

 Did you note the last sentence? "...numerous tests concluded there were no direct links to the virus"!!! How ridiculous is that?!?!

*http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/homepagenews/ban-children-touching-farm-animals/article-1435675-detail/article.html