Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008

No touching chicks at Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo

By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer

Children visiting the Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo this year won't be allowed to hold, pet, cuddle or kiss the baby chicks at Old McDonald's Barn.

The ban on handling the baby birds is meant to prevent any chance of passing a salmonella or E. coli infection to humans, said George Clary, the fair association director who issued the order.

"We're just trying to protect the public's health," Clary said Monday.

But the new rule disappoints Raymona Balko, who has been providing baby chicks for the petting pleasure of children at the fair for more than 30 years.

Balko, who raises chickens on her property in Kennewick and has volunteered as "Old Lady McDonald" at the fair since the petting barn was built decades ago, said several generations of children have enjoyed getting to touch and hold newly hatched chicks.

"I don't think the public will like this," Balko said Monday while preparing Old McDonald's Barn for the coming week.

Visitors to the Kennewick fairgrounds still will be able to get close to a donkey, a calf, goats, lambs and piglets this year, beginning today when the fair opens to the public at 9 a.m.

But the cute, fluffy chicks will be only for viewing.

Max Benitz Jr., a Benton County commissioner who also is a rancher from Prosser, said he also is sorry that children won't be able to handle chicks at the barn.

"Kids should be able to hold and pet the chicks and know where chicks and eggs come from, but the fair association has this policy to address a safety issue," he said.

Clary said there hasn't been any report of anyone getting sick from handling an animal at the Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo and he wants to keep it that way.

He said he decided to impose the ban after attending the international fairs convention in Las Vegas last year and hearing the risks detailed. "It was also discussed at our state fairs convention in October," he said.

Fair officials have already posted signs in the animal barns reminding fairgoers that food and drink are not allowed inside the barns and encouraging people to use washing stations after visiting where animals are.

"We are trying to emphasize hand washing, but we can't force people to wash," Clary said.

People who have no experience being around livestock are the concern, Clary said. "It's the city folks who are unfamiliar with being around animals," he said.

Gina Hinton, an environmental health specialist for the Benton Franklin Health District, said hand washing would solve the problem if people faithfully did it.

The health district provides a hand-washing trailer every year at the fair near the animal barns for convenient use by visitors.

Part of the reason for the ban on handling chicks is that young children are most likely to place their hands in or near their mouths, and once infected they are most at risk because their immune systems are not fully developed, said Dr. Tim Baszler, lab director and pathologist at Washington State University's Animal Diseases Diagnostics Lab in Pullman.

Infections coming from petting zoos was a big enough concern last year that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta issued a 28-page report explaining the risks, Baszler said.

The report said approximately 50 people have become infected since 1991 by disease outbreaks involving animals in public settings such as fairs and petting zoos.

Baszler said parents who take small children to the fair should be especially careful to not take anything a young child would put in his or her mouth because those items could come in contact with animal cages, fencing or fall on the ground.

"The most at-risk are children under 5, and the highest risk is salmonella from handling baby chicks. This is an issue nationally," he said.

Clary said his concern extends to other farm animals too.

"I've seen where a child has cotton candy and goes to see the goats. The goat licks the sugar from the hand the child uses to pet it, and then the child walks away using that same hand to put cotton candy in his mouth," he said.

Balko said she will abide by the new rule by keeping the baby chicks in a cage so children can't touch them.

-- On the Net: www.bffairrodeo.com.

* John Trumbo: 582-1529; jtrumbo@tricityherald.com