We arrived early at the fair (the Mount Albert Sports Day and Spring Fair in my recent posts) before the gates were officially open. A petting zoo had just arrived in a big truck and the owner was setting up the individual cages and letting the various animals (pigs, a llama, an alpaca, several goats and sheep, a Brahman cow and her calf, and a few bunnies) into their various areas.I asked the owner if he minded me taking photos, and he seemed delighted that I asked. I didn't tell him I was going to post the photos on my blog so he probably thought I'd never seen farm animals before. He said he was amazed how many people -- even ones living in the country -- didn't know a goat from a sheep. Ha! Was he talking about ME? Well, I didn't tell him I knew the difference. Instead I quietly took photos before the kids got between my camera and the animals.
But you know what? I thought about what the owner had said, and it suddenly sunk in that a LOT of people living in EG have just moved here from the city so it should be little surprise that they don't recognize certain animals they've never seen except in books or on TV.
Above is an animal everyone knows --cute in a cage, not so adorable in my vegetable garden. The little girl is handing the bunny gently and it appears to be content to be held…as long as the girl continues to stroke its fur.
A beautiful Brahman cow can’t wait to sink her teeth into the fresh grass. She and her calf (you can’t see it) hardly notice me as long as I keep my distance. The sheep in the background is also ready for a grassy snack.
And the intelligent, hauty looking llama keeps its head high and occasionally eats a bit of grass, yet stays alert for what it knows will happen when groups of kids arrive. Apparently llamas are very patient animals. Yeah, right. I see the muzzle over the llama's face. Haha!
I still go to fairs to pet the animals...I come from a farm and don't think I will ever totally get over missing calves being born, etc.
ReplyDeleteLlama can spit too - trust me!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like this petting zoo could use two goats. Don't you think so too? ;)
ReplyDeleteIt’s great to see this sort of thing. Kids that miss out on seeing and touching animals really do lose out.
ReplyDelete"Louis" saw your comment at Small City Scenes about the poppies and the Flanders Fields poem.
ReplyDeleteThe Flanders Fields poem is poignant - though when he lived in France, "Louis" never made it into Belgium to see the fields of Flanders, he did see many of the cemeteries in eastern France (particularly in Champagne). In all the towns in France, usually in the city center in the small towns, there is always a monument to those who died in World War I. As awful as the carnage was in World War II, it did not equal the horror of trench warfare in World War I according to many who fought in both wars.
John McCrae, was indeed a Canadian physician. He died in 1918 of pneumonia while operating a field hospital at Boulogne-sur-Mer.
I like fairs, too and of course all the animals. MB
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