Editor:
On July 23, I was visiting the Queen's Park (animal) petting farm and witnessed some troubling behaviour from some of the children there.
Most parents are quick to stop their children from chasing the chickens and goats, etc., who have pretty much unlimited space to run around in, but there were a few children intentionally harassing the two cats in their enclosure by deliberately making loud noises and trying to climb and shake the wire mesh on the outside.
I overheard a conversion between two boys where one boy said he was trying to scare the cats, and when another boy asked him if he had a cat at home, the first boy said he did but he never scared him.
It must have been a case of "monkey see, monkey do" because the harassment of the cats escalated after this.
My point of writing this letter is to get the parents to be more attentive to their children around all the animals who are there to socialize and use the experience of going to the petting farm as educational as well as enjoyable for everyone - two- and four-legged alike.
Lisa Finnigan, New Westminster
