A family in North Carolina is sharing their story after a fun event turned into a serious health concern. They hired a mobile petting zoo for a gathering, but weeks later, multiple family members and guests found themselves in a hospital room receiving rabies post-exposure shots. The experience, captured in a TikTok video, shows the group using humor to cope with a stressful situation.
The video, posted by TikTok creator Taty’♥️ with the handle @tatyyv, shows a man in a hospital bed surrounded by medical staff. On-screen text in the video explains the context: “POV: You hire a petting zoo for a family event… and weeks later your entire family and guest are getting rabies shots. Please don’t take our laughing the wrong way, we’re stressed, overwhelmed, and honestly using humor to cope with how crazy this situation is.”
In the video, the man appears to receive an injection while others in the room look on. A voice off-screen is heard saying, “Hey you, all right. I feel like this one’s going to hurt the most.” A nurse replies, “No, you’ll be fine.” The man then receives the shot and says, “Ooh, that look like a crown,” before adding, “Yeah, yeah, very painful. It was not that bad.” The video ends with the group laughing together.
The family links the situation to a confirmed rabies investigation involving a mobile petting zoo
In the caption of the TikTok video, Taty’♥️ provided more details about the event. She stated, “Our event was August 16 in Durham, NC.” She further explained, “We later learned about a confirmed rabies investigation involving baby goats from a mobile petting zoo that attended events during that time.” The caption said the family is “working with Public Health and sharing this so other potentially affected families can get information.”
The caption included a public service announcement. It urged, “If you, your family, friends, or anyone you know attended an event with Farm Adventures in North Carolina between July 27th and August 28th, please contact your local health department ASAP and ask if you may need rabies post-exposure treatment/shots.” The post used hashtags including #nc, #mobilepettingzoo, #rabies, and #ncrabies.
The video’s comment section included reactions from other users who appeared to be in similar situations. One commenter shared, “I also hired them for my kids birthday party and we are in the same boat! It’s crazy, 22 people from the party had to get vaccinated, most of those were children, including my own 2 kids.” Another commenter offered information, stating, “So I also learned today: if you’re exposed to rabies and get the shots before you show symptoms, everything is pretty easy. But if you start showing symptoms, it’s over. No treatment, fatal and it’s a terrible way to go.”
Other comments focused on the financial and legal aspects. One user wrote, “Send the bill to that petting zoo because I’m pretty sure this treatment is $$$$$$$.” Another questioned the cost difference, asking, “Why is the rabies vaccine $10 for animals but $15,000 for humans???” A third comment referenced the severity, stating, “i really hope no one gets rabies from this incident.” Another commenter said, “omg i seen a doctors video on the goats. i’d definitely sue tf out of the mobile petting zoo company. so negligent!”
