A TAMAR valley farm tourist attraction has been suffering the effects of the national e-coli scare with takings down by at least 25%.

But owners of the Tamar Valley Donkey Park say hygiene at their site is a top priority. They hope people will not stay away from the attraction after four sites were closed across the country because of an outbreak of the disease.

Sixty-seven people have been showing symptoms of the 0157 strain of e-coli after visiting other farm tourism sites. The disease is prevalent in cattle but also affects sheep and goats and can be a risk to humans through the petting of these animals.

The park at St Ann's Chapel is predominantly a rescue centre for donkeys and has a 'closed herd' of goats and sheep who have been at the site for years.

Julia Gibbons, who runs the site with her husband, daughter and son-in-law, said the news had come at a very bad time, when tourism attractions had already suffered because of the credit crunch.

The Department of Health is considering changing the guidelines on whether children under five should have contact with animals on petting farms.

Mrs Gibbons said: 'If there is any further downturn in business it would be disastrous.

'We get a lot of nursery groups coming to visit us and if they stopped it would be pretty awful.

'It would be a terrible shame if small children were not allowed to touch the animals.

'My grand-daughter has been here with the animals since she was a tiny tot. The children love it. The smile on their faces when you see them cuddle up to a goat is delightful.

'It is a tragedy if just one child becomes seriously ill but you cannot wrap children up in cotton wool.'

Mrs Gibbons said there were hand-washing signs all over the park and special low-level sinks had been installed in the toilets so children could reach them easily.

Anti-bacterial soap and alcohol gel were used, the latter which could be applied without having to rinse off.

'We are doing everything we can,' she said. 'The park has been open for 20 years and as far as we are aware there has never been a problem of this type.'

David Gibbons said people were confused about what to do because there was inadequate information being put out.

'The health protection agency is not telling people enough in layman's terms. E-coli is all around, it is in the environment and in humans — it helps them to digest food,' he said.

'This strain is a mutant strain and it is found mostly in uncooked food and meat. Only one in 50 cases comes from petting animals.'

He said it was all about hygiene, and coming from a medical background it was something he was very particular about.

His daughter Tamsin said a blame culture had become prevalent, where everyone blamed someone else and there was less responsibility on the parents: 'My daughter is here 24-7 and she has crawled on her hands and knees around the place at under a year old. I always make sure I am very careful when it comes to lunchtime, tea-time, or her eating any kind of snack, that she washes her hands.'

Mother of two young children and treasurer of Harrowbarrow and Metherell Pre School Sharon Wilde said she visited the donkey park on Monday and would continue to do so.

'Personally, I will not stop going to the donkey park but as a pre-school we will have to consider all the parents' views,' she said.

'As long as the children wash their hands after being in contact with the animals it is not a problem.

'It would be disappointing if they could not pet the animals and they would not be able to have donkey rides.'

A spokesman for the health protection agency said: 'The most likely contact is through animal faeces and this can be passed on when animals are being stroked. That is where the advice to wash hands is very important.'

He said the 0157 strain caused bowel problems and children could develop a condition called haemolytic uraemic syndrome, which could lead to kidney failure.