Easter means egg hunts, chocolate bunnies.... and petting zoos.
Several places around the city are bringing bunnies, chicks and even kangaroos for people to play with in light of the holidays.
The Standard Hotel, High Line is one of them. For the past four years, the fancy hotel rents a mixture of farm animals like chicks, ducklings, guinea pigs, bunnies, goats and even kangaroos. The animals come from a traveling educational zoo called Two by Two Zoo in Poughkeepsie, New York.
About 600 to 1,000 people show up throughout the day from 10 am to 3 pm. Andrzej Bocian-Brown, Director of Food & Beverage at the Standard Hotel, High Line, said visitors love the kangaroo in particular. “When kids saw it, they just fell in love. It’s something completely unusual. It’s something that we don’t have often here in New York, so it’s the most requested animal right now.”
There’s a lot that goes into putting a petting zoo together. The establishment needs a license and throughout the duration of the zoo, the animals are rotated to ensure they are comfortable. As long as it is 50 degrees and above, the animals can withstand the outdoors, on a non-rainy day.
But there are some health risks associated with touching animals, such as contracting parasites and bacterial or viral illnesses. In 2012, a petting zoo at a county fair in North Carolina caused an E. coli outbreak that led to 106 sick people and the death of a 2-year-old toddler.
Dr. Richard Goldstein, Chief Medical Officer at the non-profit Animal Medical Center on East 62nd street, said he welcomes the idea of petting zoos, as long as people are careful. “It needs to be done in a proper way and then people need to take the kind of common sense type of hygiene approach, which is to wash your hands afterwards and not have a type of contact that's inappropriate,” he said.
Goldstein believes petting zoos can be a positive experience. “I think it’s a very important part of every child’s education. Learning to love animals is being able to see animals and actually touch animals,” he said.
Here are some places that offer petting zoos around New York City this Easter weekend:
The Standard Hotel, High Line in Manhattan
White Post Farms in Long Island
Grand Oaks Country Club in Staten Island