A very dear friend of mine invited me to the Interior Provincial Exhibition.
It was wonderful to see all of the exhibits/wares/crafts. etc. The annual fair is an economic boost for our area as well as exciting for children of all ages. How far are we willing to go, though?
While walking through, I was disheartened by the maternity cows on display, ready to give birth. There were crowds of people cajoling and whooping children groping to get inside the cages. Very obviously, most of the crowds neglected to see the distress and anguish that these maternity cows were in as crowd hyper-frenxy was upon them.
The mother cow was distressed not having the calm and privacy she needed, mooing, agitated, wanting some privacy, as all animals seek when giving birth. Come on folks, would you like your mother, sister, aunt to give birth in front of a mass crowd jeering on?
The noise was incredibly loud with added pings from the game vendors, music blaring throughout the area, people yelling, shouting, etc. Do we really need to be so insensitive to the wonderful gift of nature this way?
As we continued to explore the IPE grounds, we came upon the goat area. I have personally raised and bred milking goats. All the mother goats had swollen utters and some goats were also in distress. I was told by one of the animal vendors that the goats had to contain their milk for judging purposes (size of swollen utters). All for competitive judging purposes.
I wish to thank Carole Wheeler for her letter to the editor, Poor Choice, regarding the exotic animals.
In my opinion, the crated lion, tiger, wolves and camels are not animals for public display sideshows or any other display for that matter. Situated by the noisy chainsaw sideshow caused these animals to be overly distressed as well.
These animals deserve much better.
What has happened to us as a human species? Are we progressing with human dignity for ourselves and those who shared the planet with us, or are we going backwards in time?
Shaldena El Morya, Spallumcheen
