Despite rampant media reports to the contrary, the Centers for Disease Control doesn't care if you dress up your pet chicken for Halloween.
The agency released a statement - likely one their public relations department never thought it would draft - titled "Erroneous media reports about chickens and Halloween costumes."
It comes as major news outlets like ABC News and FOX News each reported that the government agency was putting a damper on feathered festivities for chicken owners.
The rebuttal simply states that the CDC never made any report regarding the safety of dressing up your feathered friends. However, the statement went on to provide common tips on remaining healthy around poultry - and how to keep the chickens safe as well.
Suggestions include:
- Washing your hands after touching a chicken or anything in its environment.
- Keeping chickens outdoors and never bringing them in your home.
- Not eating or drinking near where chickens roam,
- Don't kiss your birds or snuggle with them.
- Keep the live animals away from children under 5 years of age entirely.
It all comes down to the risk of contracting salmonella which can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps for four to seven days. And the symptoms don't always show up right away.
Infections directly from chickens, which often carry the bacteria, are on the rise across the U.S. due to a trend of keeping the birds as pets. But, while the chicken craze has caught on, standard health practices long followed by farmers have fallen to the wayside.
In 2017, the CDC investigated 10 separate multistate outbreaks of infection from people who had come into contact with live poultry and backyard flocks.
