Poor lambs

I went driving all the way to Kerikeri last week. Cruising down the highway, the sun shining, Rock'n'roll Jukebox Hits on the stereo (I raided my parents' tape collection), rollling green hills to either side, blue sky on the horizon and hundreds of animal eyes watching me from the side of the road. This country is packed full of animals! Everywhere I went, there were cows with calves, sheep with lambs, pigs, dogs, turkeys, quails, pukekoes, horses and ducks, frolicking merrily in the pastures. So cute, those little lambs, the way their tails wiggle-waggle as they get a feed from mum. The way they skip around with their adorable little woolly legs.
'They'll all end up on someone's dinner table in Europe within a couple of weeks,' remarked a friend with a shrug, when I told them about my trip.'That's the sad thing.'
Poor lambs. If only the carnivores in Europe could see their sweet little faces, they would swear off eating them for life. Wouldn't they? Maybe not. I mean, farmers eat their own animals all the time. That's no big deal to them. I heard New Zealand described as 'Europe's larder' once. At this time of year, the larder is well and truly stocked. Come summer, there will be a lot of lonely sheep mums out there.