Surely not in our green and pleasant land

I know there is a lot of horror in the news at the moment and this little bit should pale against what else is happening.

All the same, I gasped in disbelief at the news of the 30 cows that were shot by police marksmen in suburbia in full view of children in broad daylight, simply because they had broken out of one field and found refuge in another.

In my mind it's like ordering the execution of a group of toddlers because the ball they are playing with accidentally breaks an already cracked window.

Those who ordered the cull insisted that health and safety along with the welfare of the animals was paramount. They were supposedly traumatised. The poor docile herd were mercilessly gunned down and dragged into trailers as blood trailed and the public watched in horror.

I hope for their sake that tonight's news vindicate them.

I'm not a poet and know little about how verse is constructed. It doesn't rhyme either, but here goes...

Jolly dee the day the deed 

When 30 strong break from their field and follow on to pastures green.

Kindly, calm and trusting too 

On sunlit field to blankly gaze and swish and blink and gently chew.

Curtains pull and children scream as horror grips the bovine crew 

Precisely gunned just where they laid

To help them through the trauma of this reckless escapade.

To this old Englishman such a public spectacle was both unnecessary and offensive if the truth turns out to match what I read.

Bev's comment...Let's hope they don't order the slaughter of the innocents who were genuinely traumatised after being forced to witness such a scene.

My comment on Bev's comment...They'll offer counselling to traumatised schoolchildren, but not to traumatised cows... even an injected sedative got the bullet.