What are sheep for, anyway?
Funny how things happen in clusters: there are two stories about children and farm animals in the news.
First, Marcus the sheep has been slaughtered. Schoolchildren had reared Marcus from when he was a lamb, and when he grew old enough, the decision on his future was put to the children. Should he be killed for meat, or should be be kept as a pet? A majority of the children voted for his death, and so that's what has happened, despite efforts by various animal welfare enthusiasts to save his life.
Given that the aim of the project was to educate children about the food cycle, it does seem to be a logical conclusion. It's just a shame that it's been sensationalised to the extent that the children who voted "yes" may be feeling pressurised by those trying to save him, and must be feeling confused about the logic of the adult meat-eating world.
The other story in the news is that a petting farm in Surrey is at the centre of investigations into an outbreak of E.Coli infections. There's nothing very surprising about this: zoonoses are a well-known risk of petting farms. Farm animals can carry many diseases that can be passed on to humans, and children can be a "high risk sector" of the population. How are such diseases passed on? Direct contact. What does happens in petting farms? Direct contact with animals.
It's important to remember that whilst such disease outbreaks make the news, there are guidelines that minimise the risk, and there are many benefits from introducing children to farm animals.
We live in an age where people are so disconnected from livestock farming that there's a public outcry when a ready-for-slaughter lamb is about to be slaughtered. Now, more than ever, we need livestock farms open to the public, so that people can see for themselves the animals that will end up on their plate.
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