A handful of incidents occurred at a small number of County Fairs and petting zoos in 2004, and children were exposed to e-coli bacteria. At that time, large numbers of children were allowed to walk around inside an animal’s pen, where supervision was inadequate, and coming into contact with animal feces was quite possible. Furthermore, hand washing was only a recommendation.

Now, North Carolina has created laws that prevent anyone from going into an area where animals sleep, eat, and excrete waste, greatly reducing the risk of coming into contact with animal feces. Furthermore, the number of people allowed to enter an animal area is restricted, food is no longer allowed in the area and hand washing is required.

AMAZING ACRES FARM, inc. strictly follows these laws. The very first thing taught in the barnyard is why, how and when to wash hands. In our well-supervised, clean environment small numbers of students interact with our friendly farm animals. Hand washing is stressed throughout the program.

Safety Stars Safety Stars is our unique program that teaches children personal safety skills. Its focus is to teach the importance of: Hand-washing How to recognise poison ivy The importance of using sunscreen