DO NOT DO THIS IF you don’t understand the mechanisms of zoonotic disease transmission or understand what a transmissible disease is.
The short of it
Animals, including humans, carry microbes that can cause disease (sickness, illness, etc) in other animals. When the microbe that causes this illness can infect various types of animals, including humans, it is called zoonotic.
The reason it is advised to not compost animal waste is because that waste can contain microbes that could make you sick. Many microbes like to travel by what is known as the fecal-oral route. This is pretty much what it sounds like: the microbe comes out of the infected animal via it’s feces (poop) and makes its way back into another animals mouth. This is one of the main reasons that washing your hands is one of the best defenses against many infectious diseases… In our family, whenever someone has a tummy ache or gastrointestinal distress we like to ask them if they are putting their hands (or other objects, like pens) in their mouths!
If your compost pile does not go into a thermophilic stage, reaching temperatures around 160degrees F for 5 days, then you will not be killing these potentially hazardous microbes ( or any weed seeds that enter the compost either, fiy).
I do compost pet waste, and this is how/why.
You don’t have to be a pathologist to understand how infectious diseases spread and how to keep yourself from being infected while composting.
Microbes get into our bodies through “holes” in our skin. These are cuts/scrapes that are obvious breaches of our skin barrier… but also the little holes that have sensitive mucus membranes, like our eyes, nose, and mouth.
Microbes can get into these “holes” by having direct contact with you. For example putting your hand directly into the compost while you have a scab from a hangnail, or picking your nose after stirring the compost without gloves.
Fungi from the compost like to spread through the air via spores. When I am mixing the compost, not only do I wear gloves, but I will put a mask (or cotton bandana) over my nose/mouth so I am not inhaling these amazing microbes that just want to eat the organic waste.
I can go on and on about this subject, because it is one of my passions… in trying to keep this post concise, I will just reiterate that:
Compost is full of all sorts of microbes and some of them can cause illness in humans IF they get into your body through one of the “holes” you have.