HARMONY, N.C. — Health officials in North Carolina are asking anyone who touched baby goats from a mobile petting zoo to contact their local health department after laboratory tests confirmed rabies in several of the animals.

The goats belonged to Farm Adventures, based in Iredell County. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said people may have been exposed at the farm's Harmony site or at off-site events between July 28 and Aug. 27. Three kids tested positive at the State Laboratory of Public Health. A fourth was not tested but is assumed to have been infected. All four were euthanized.

Officials said there is no wide public threat. "There is not a broad risk to the public — only those who attended events at the mobile petting zoo and were in close contact with the goats are at risk," the department said.

The animals were most likely infected by a skunk that entered their pen in late July. State health and agriculture agencies were notified Aug. 27. Testing results came back Aug. 28. Investigators later concluded that no other animals on the farm pose a rabies risk to people.

Baby goats are often bottle-fed, held and cuddled, which raises the chance of saliva contact. "Because baby goats are frequently bottle-fed, handled closely, or cuddled,........

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