Petting zoo may have to change after kids are bitten

A Cedar Rapids petting zoo may have to implement new safety measures after two children from a day care center were bitten this week. Christie Hiedeman, operator of Little People Day Care, says a 14-month-old boy was bitten on the hand while playing with a donkey. The child needed stitches. The boy’s six-year-old sister was also bitten by a horse the same day but wasn’t seriously hurt. It happened at Knight’s Pumpkin Farm and Petting Zoo near the town of Whittier. Zoo owner Gary Knight says one or two kids are bitten every year but he doesn’t know how to make the attraction more safe without putting up a fence that’d prevent people from coming in contact with the animals.