Hours before the annual State Fair opened this week in Syracuse, a veterinarian from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets intercepted the highly anticipated union of 100 baby goats on the verge of snuggling with hundreds of children and their families.
Turns out, the routine inspection that closed the popular exhibit may have kept a highly contagious, but common poxvirus found in farm animals, from spreading. Sean McFarland with the New York State Fair said because the infection was visually determined - not by a lab - they closed the exhibit out of an abundance of caution.
“It was one goat that was visually determined to have symptoms of the viral infection, and yes, it's highly contagious to other animals," McFarland said. "So, upon making the visual analysis of what looked to be a highly infectious disease, the state veterinarian determined that it would be best to shut that exhibit down to stop the spread.”
McFarland said concerns over the Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu recently found in cows and goats, placed strict protocols on animals showing at the fair.
“To help protect animals from HP AI, essentially animals that are lactating, dairy or goats coming to the fair have to show a negative test result within 10 days of making the trip, and then they have to actually be tested again before they get here to the fair.”
McFarland says there was no initial concern for the baby goats, because they’re not lactating. The herd came from a farm in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
More information about the suspected zoonotic virus may be found on the CDC's website.
