Editorial: Running of lambs keeps things real

WE'RE meat eaters, apparently.

Zoologists claim that the position of our eyes, at the front of our heads (think lions), suggests we're predators. Prey, on the other hand, have eyes at the sides of their head (think sheep) to enable them to scope widely for the former.

This sixth-form biology lesson came flooding back at the weekend after watching TV One's footage of Waipukurau's Running of the Lambs event, where 850 sheep gapped it down the town's main street.

The controversial run went ahead despite much chewing of the cud from members of the public, who bandied about words like "cruel" and "hickish".

A few weeks prior, a similar event scheduled to take place in Auckland during the Rugby World Cup was called off, with the lambs sent to the slaughterhouse instead.

In response to the sudden cull, SPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said she had "no problem" with it. "We are very realistic about what happens to animals - that's farming; this is entertainment."

In other words, anything that's not an essential precursor to slitting lambs' throats and smothering them in mint sauce is gratuitous.

Seems to me that, unless sheep have become sentient beings, the only conclusion is that the SPCA believe it is motive, not the event itself, that makes it cruel. Drivel.

Fetch. Sit. Roll over. Tally-ho. Giddy-up. Like it or not, we use animals for entertainment every day. It's a strong motivator, if not the basis, of all pet ownership. To have canned this event would have rendered us all hypocrites.

Pigs in cages and wilful animal neglect are worthy of our scorn - not a mob of ruminants running in front of the very folk whose livelihoods depends on their humane husbandry.

Much of the criticism was based on excited anthropomorphism, which the experts, ie Central Hawke's Bay sheep farmers, would have taken great offence at.

The nationwide festival is called The Real Festival. Good on you, Waipukurau, for keeping it that way.