Animal Farm to Petting Zoo

There's something special about animal farms and despite being a popular attraction for kids they're actually quite important for the development of children. Today's world has fast become a capitalist wet dream where just about everything we ever want or need is at our fingertips. Even poorer nations in the world today have advanced beyond previous generations.

With such changes in how food is prepared we can often forget that the product infront of us on the table comes from a living animal. This is where animal farms were established.

Although animal farms are very different then what they used to be and if you're like Australia you might have shows. We have the Royal Melbourne Show which commenced as a way to bring regional farming communities into the city to teach kids about farming lifestyles.

Although things have changed rapidly these days with regards to the Royal Melbourne Show in that it has become an annual festival of sorts. Moving away from its traditional vision of showcasing the best of the farming community to more filled with Show bags, rides and entertainment.

Same can be said about animal farms at events which have also come under certain regulations which can be understandable. But this means the animals selected for the animal farms have slightly changed and while we don't see chickens other than those that are used in shows.

There is also a reduction in farm animals to more things you can keep as pets so this has seen a complete change of name from animal farm to petting zoo.

This also means we now have rodents and other small animals, which I think has completely undermined their importance and their initial vision.

To teach kids the importance of the food chain and that what we eat comes from other living animals not designer factories, well not yet anyway.

While Petting Zoos are no doubt fun for kids they don't serve a real purpose other than to allow kids to pet animals. My daughter wanted a pet mouse at the end of the trip, something I never would have dreamed to have had as a kid.

Given the whole reason why I got a cat is to keep the mice away.

The world that we live in currently which might be more the Western world is fast becoming a place devoid of life experiences. More focused on designer products, mass production and ready made to order foods.

But this also leads to food waste with the Western world being a growing part of the globe where food is regularly dumped.

Without the skills and knowledge of how and what it is in front of you, on your plate it's hard to grasp the fact that a living creature gave its life so we could have ours.

But that doesn't church out high corporate profits.

What are your thoughts on the matter?