That's the advice now after the petting farms down in England were shut owing to E.coli problems.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8264266.stm
So don't touch animals - they carry disease and YOU WILL DIE. WTF, do we really need to be told this? You watch animals roll about in their own sh*t in front of you, lick their arses, sniff lots of other arses, in fact, generally flout most basic good toilet etiquette. Despite this they are cute, fluffy and make humans look intelligent, so we play with them and live with them. Has the human race really lost all common sense that it can no longer operate the simple rule - wash your hands after playing with animals? We managed before without it being deemed a major health risk and banned.
It's no good, little Jimmy's hamster must be incinerated....
Ok, rant over..
Malky