Four baby goats at a state-licensed mobile petting zoo in North Carolina tested positive for rabies after touring facilities for children and the elderly for a full month — and the regulatory apparatus that exists to prevent exactly this caught nothing until after the animals started dying.

Farm Adventures, based in Harmony, operated across at least six counties between July 28 and August 27, bringing baby goats to assisted living facilities, back-to-school bashes, and private events. A skunk got into the animals' pen, bit unvaccinated baby goats too young for their shots, and nobody noticed. The state licenses, inspects, and regulates these operations. A skunk didn't care.

The goats — named Molly, Maggie, Cow, and Uno — were too young for vaccination when a skunk entered their separate pen, according to Farm Adventures' Facebook statement. The petting zoo said it removed the skunk but was unaware the goats had been bitten. "They showed no sign or symptoms of rabies," the farm said.

One goat died. A veterinarian investigated. A necropsy was ordered. The North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health confirmed rabies in three of the four goats on August 29, WXII reported. A fourth wasn't tested but officials assume it was infected too.

That means for nearly a month, potentially rabid animals were petted by children at a Community Connections Back-to-School Bash in Lexington, elderly residents at Jurney's Assisted Living and Brookdale Peachtree in Statesville, attendees at a Masonic Picnic in Mocksville, and guests at private events across Mecklenburg, Watauga, Burke, Durham, and Iredell counties. NBC News noted it was "unclear when the skunk was found in the pen" — meaning the state can't even pin down when the exposure occurred.

This is the same North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services that licenses and oversees these operations. The same Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that regulates animal health. They were first notified on August 27, WXII reported. For a month, the system that exists to prevent exactly this scenario detected nothing.

Farm Adventures is cooperating, and there's no indication of bad faith. "We are working closely with public health officials, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, and animal control to address this issue and ensure the safety of our animals and clients," the farm said. In a Facebook comment, the zoo added: "We would NEVER intend to put anyone in danger."

But intent isn't the point. The point is that the regulatory state promises safety and delivers paperwork. A license on the wall didn't stop a skunk from entering a pen of unvaccinated baby animals. An inspection regime didn't catch the exposure before those animals toured across half the state. The same bureaucrats now scrambling to manage exposure are the ones whose oversight was supposed to prevent it.

The CDC says roughly 100,000 Americans receive rabies vaccinations after potential exposure each year. Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms begin. North Carolina hasn't had a human case since 2011 — a statistic officials will lean on to reassure the public. But "rare so far" is not the same as "safe by design."

The state will investigate, issue findings, and probably add another layer of regulation. What it won't do is admit the obvious: the existing rules weren't worth the paper they were printed on. The bureaucracy's answer to bureaucratic failure is always more bureaucracy. The question is whether anyone will ask what the public actually got for the oversight it was promised.