Line up lawyers, the Goshen Fairgrounds near Hartford, Connecticut, is promoting kids wallowing in cow poop.

“Clowns collect one boot from every kid, takes them down to the other end of the arena and throws them in a pile. Kids have to run across the arena full of horse and cow poop. Sometimes it’s muddy, so the kids are dodging that, too.”

Sean O’Neill of Goshen Stampede, Inc. says they see about 25,000 people come through the fairgrounds, and they come from all over.

So what’s the most popular kids event at the stampede?

“Kids rodeo,” said O’Neill. “Mutton Busting is the main attraction of the kids rodeo; they all want to ride the sheep. The rodeo clowns will be out there, too. And Hula Hoop roping: They rope a dummy steer with a hula hoop.

Best practices for planning events encouraging human-animal interactions

Zoonoses and Public Health

G. Erdozain , K. KuKanich , B. Chapman  and D. Powell

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zph.12117/abstract?deniedAccess

Educational events encouraging human–animal interaction include the risk of zoonotic disease transmission. It is estimated that 14% of all disease in the US caused by Campylobacter spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, non-O157 STECs, Listeria monocytogenes, nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica and Yersinia enterocolitica were attributable to animal contact. This article reviews best practices for organizing events where human–animal interactions are encouraged, with the objective of lowering the risk of zoonotic disease transmission.