‘Spare animals from cracker trauma’

Even animals may suffer from the use of firecrackers.

Animal welfare groups issued a stern warning to the public not to use firecrackers for the New Year’s Eve revelry to avoid the  “unspoken torture” it may cause to animals.

The Animal Welfare Coalition (AWC) said the explosion of firecrackers sends animals, especially pets like cats and dogs, to tremble due to fear.

Dr. Rey del Napoles, executive director of AWC, said that animals, like humans, should not be allowed to suffer from the deafening and toxic explosion of firecrackers.

“Many cats and dogs are traumatized by firecracker explosions.  They shiver, howl, drool a lot, refuse to eat, and exhibit loss of bladder or bowel control,” Napoles said.

Citing information from the California-based Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR), the group said firecrackers can result in severe ear injuries for cats, dogs, and other animals that have more sensitive sense of hearing than humans.

Information from AVAR also indicated that since animals have more acute hearing than people, and thus, more sensitive to loud noises, they naturally flee, as an instant reaction, which puts them in danger of getting hit by cars, impaled on fences, or lost.

“The cracking of fireworks can be so traumatic that the result is intense stress, and fear with possible long-lasting anxiety effects, which interfere with feeding, breeding, nesting, and other survival behaviors,” the AVAR information said.

Moreover, AWC said that setting off firecrackers likewise yields litter and chemical-laden smoke that pose hazards to pet animals and wildlife as well as humans.

AWC joined calls made by the Ecological Waste Coalition, which had earlier urged the public to shift to non-toxic and non-injurious ways of welcoming the New Year. 

LJ Pasion, youth campaigner of EcoWaste, said that the well-being of pet animals and other living creatures, should be another reason why Filipinos should stop blasting firecrackers and instead adopt a “safer and saner revelry” that will not cause fear, stress, harm, injury or death.

“The noisy and dirty ritual of welcoming the New Year with firecrackers is a curse to powerless animals,” Pasion said.

The AWC and EcoWaste have identified some practical steps that would minimize the hazard of high decibel firecrackers on animals, including pet dogs and cats.

Among these are discussion among family members and neighbors about the pain and anxiety that animals experience when firecrackers are set off; request for legal and not excessively loud firecrackers should household and community members insist on using them; keeping of pet animals indoors when firecrackers are going off, and playing music to drown out the noise; providing a safe place where pets can take refuge during the blast, such as a corner or under the sofa, bed or table; and clearing up after the blast to protect animals from firecracker litter.