Dr. Cliff Redford

What about the penguins?

So as I'm reading on this, you know, about these different species, the veterinarian in me is saying, OK, these animals should not be handled.

I don't think anyone's going to argue that you shouldn't be going to a coffee shop and then hanging out with penguins.

That's probably not very good for the penguins.

The otters, while you're drinking coffee, while you're having food due to public health issues, the otters are not allowed to swim.

So they're going to be out of the water for hours at a time.

And then I started to think about the diseases.

And that's a serious problem.

So the research was very, very clear that these guys, you know, they obviously carry salmonella.

Not obviously.

Some of them carry salmonella.

Cryptosporidium is a parasite that people can get from a lot of these species.

And you're eating and you're probably using your hands if you're having the little tea biscuits and the little cookies and stuff.

And cryptosporidium is basically going to give you the nastiest gut rot for a couple of weeks.

That's a medical term, by the way.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

It's not a good idea.

It's not a good idea, period.

So I don't, you know, there's no debate.