State health officials are asking anyone who touched the animals at any of ten events between July 28 and August 27, 2026, to call their local health department right away.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said the four baby goats belonged to Farm Adventures, a mobile petting zoo based in Harmony, in Iredell County.
Three of the animals tested positive at the state's public health laboratory.
The fourth was presumed infected but not tested.
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All were likely bitten by a skunk that got into their pen in late July, before the goats were old enough to be vaccinated.
No human rabies cases have been reported in North Carolina since 2011, but the disease is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, which is why the state is asking every attendee to make the call.
Where the goats appeared
The petting zoo visited seven counties during the exposure window, from Watauga in the mountains to Durham in the central Piedmont.
Public events with confirmed addresses include the following.
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Date | Location | County |
|---|---|---|
July 28 Also read: Food allergy or food intolerance? Here is how to tell the difference | Jurney's Assisted Living, 1942 Van Haven Drive, Statesville | Iredell |
August 1 | Community Connections Back-to-School Bash, Breeden Amphitheater, 333 S. Main St., Lexington Also read: Your cardiorespiratory fitness may predict your lifespan better than your cholesterol | Davidson |
August 6 | Brookdale Peachtree, 2806 Peachtree Road, Statesville | Iredell Also read: Having heart disease may quietly raise your cancer risk if you're a man |
August 15 | Masonic Picnic Grounds, 201 Poplar St., Mocksville | Davie |
Six other appearances were private events in Mecklenburg (July 30), Watauga (August 8), Burke (August 9), Durham (August 16 and August 23) and Iredell (August 22) counties.
What "exposure" actually means
Rabies spreads primarily through a bite, scratch or when infected saliva touches broken skin or mucous membranes such as the eyes, nose or mouth.
Briefly petting an animal's dry fur is a lower-risk contact than a bite or a lick on a cut.
The judgment call is not one to make at home. Local health workers weigh what happened and decide whether preventive treatment is needed.
Early symptoms look like the flu, with weakness, fever and headache, often paired with a distinctive tingling or itching at the spot where the person was bitten or exposed.
Once neurological symptoms take hold, the disease is virtually untreatable.
The treatment window is now
Post-exposure prophylaxis, known as PEP, is nearly always effective if it starts before symptoms develop.
The CDC-recommended regimen is a rabies vaccine on the day of the first medical visit, followed by additional doses on days 3, 7 and 14.
People who have never been vaccinated against rabies also receive a one-time dose of rabies immune globulin, which delivers ready-made antibodies while the vaccine trains the immune system.
Officials are asking people to call before showing up.
County health departments assess the risk, coordinate the vaccine and immune globulin, and route people to the right facility.
Walking into an emergency room unannounced can delay the very shots the visit is meant to secure.
Parents who took children to any Farm Adventures event during the window should include them in that call, even if the child only stroked a goat's back.
The Iredell County Health Department is the primary contact for exposures at the Harmony farm itself.
Attendees at events in other counties should call the health department where the event took place.
This article is made and published by Ida-Marie Palm Varbæk, who may have used AI in the preparation.