The News Journal reports that new cases of the potentially deadly E. coli infection have been reported in Central Florida since the Department of Health confirmed or suspected 68 people statewide, but the families and business affected by the outbreak, caused by animals from AgVenture Farm Shows, may never fully recover.
Port Orange resident Ava Wheatley’s grandsons, ages 2 and 4, are both home from extended stays at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women in Orlando. Both children could have permanent kidney damage, and the youngest child, with one kidney still only working at 30 percent, is still too sick to return to day care.
Although none of the cases was linked to Barnyard Friends Animal Farm in Samsula, fear of E. coli kept so many customers from visiting the area petting zoo that owner Donna Sue Sanders was forced to close its doors.
The closure of her petting zoo meant finding new homes for a few goats, two llamas and chickens, but she’s moving the ponies, cows and horses to the family farm.