This is my second page on companion animals and fireworks this firework season – and what a season. It started before Diwali (late October) and extends to beyond Bonfire Night (to mid, even late Nov.).
It is the season of noise more than colour and light, which brings me to my first point: fireworks could be just as enjoyable being quiet! What about quiet fireworks? The modern trend has been towards more noisy – incredibly noisy – fireworks. Were they always this noisy? What is the modern fascination with noise?
There is no need for noisy fireworks. Quiet or relatively quiet fireworks would strike an excellent compromise between humans getting their kicks and cats and dogs not being terrified.
Some people will say, why should we bother with cats and dogs or all the wild animals which are terrified by noisy fireworks. Apparently 60% of cats are terrified by them while 50% of dogs suffer in the same way. I am sure the majority of wild animals are frightened by them and they have no one to comfort them.
“They are only cats” people will say. We have human rights to do as we please. It’s our garden. We can do as well please in it. Yes, it is your garden but the noise you create extends for half a mile beyond the boundaries of your garden upsetting hundreds of pets in London or other built up areas.
As for the cat being a lesser creature with a far lower intelligence; this is irrelevant even if it is true (and it isn’t). This is because there is only one aspect of the cat which matters in this argument: cats can suffer. They can feel pain and fear. They have emotions.
They can be confused and bemused. That is all we need to know when deciding to use quiet fireworks or no fireworks. We have a moral duty to not place animals in this fearful state as a consequence of our pleasure seeking.
There are alternative suggestions to using quiet fireworks (Richard Dawkin’s suggestion and a common sense one). For example: fireworks should be used on the day of the celebration only and the displays organised by professionals.
It is time for change and for selfish humans to take responsibility for the detrimental effect upon animals of their self-indulgent, pleasure seeking behaviour.
Photo: Epic Fireworks
That’s the fear Fireworks spell big bucks so they will never limit them to organised displays 🙁 Its the same here one year some were so loud they were setting off car alarms; it was like world war 3 and so annoying!
I hate seeing the displays in supermarkets I think here we go again. I did notice as well that on some of the boxes they are now marketed by how loud they are! Definitely when I was a kid it was all about colour not noise 🙁
I don’t remember the noise fireworks made in the past. It is the bloody manufacturers blighting our lives and the lives of our cats.
So true Michael either that or as youngsters we didn’t appreciate that they were noisy but I really feel that they actually weren’t. My memories of bonfire night include Catherine Wheels, a bonfire and jacket potatoes done in the oven 🙂
It’s gone far too far now, the week the kids were off for half term fireworks were going off in the main street in town where I work during the mornings, where do they get them I wonder when I believe they should legally be 18 to buy them. Then at night it’s been bang, bang for weeks now, bonfire night was no special occasion, there were more going off other nights than the night itself, and though thankfully Walter and Jozef don’t show any fear those yapping terriers next door, even though indoors, have barked solid, every time one goes off it starts a new louder yapping session, they’re obviously scared, I should feel sorry for them but I just feel sorry for us having to put up with their constant noise 😉 I don’t think quiet fireworks would have the same appeal to the mentality of those who enjoy shocking people day and night with loud noises, I would like to see organised displays only but it’s never going to happen, too much money to be made from indiscriminate selling I fear.
I can remember the days of quiet fireworks and Guy Fawkes Day only being celebrated for one evening, November 5th, or if that happened to fall on a Sunday we had it the Saturday evening before.
Catherine wheels, snow fountains, sparklers, sky rockets etc only made a whooshing sound, the loudest were the jumping crackers which went POP POP POP, but I think the screams of us girls were louder than them. Everyone knew to keep their pets in safe for that one evening. It’s not about celebrating with pretty displays now, it’s about who can make the most noise and who can start the earliest setting them off.
Countless petitions to the government to restrict fireworks to public displays have failed and we know why! Because they make money through them! We’ve had them here since early October, an area of high youth unemployment yet they can pay £50 to £100 for a box of potent fireworks, how do they afford them? They are still banging now and will until the shops sell out, then they’ll start again for Christmas and New Year. Even in the pouring rain they are at it! Thankfully our cats aren’t nervous but there are cats outside and wild life, horses in fields, birds…..idiots don’t care about them, it’s all selfish human rights, I want and I must have and hard cheddar to animals!
I can remember the days of quieter fireworks. Brits seem to like noise these days. Diwali is certainly a factor and the people who celebrate Diwali have a different culture to Anglo-saxon Brits. Perhaps it is that the world has become less sensitive and less concerned with others. People are bemused when you complain that the noise they are making with fireworks affects people far and wide. They just haven’t understood that simple fact.
Fireworks here happen 3 times a year,New Years ,4th of July and Christmas.I live in the country so I dont worry about it much,and there are laws about it in the city limits.I am sorry that you have so much there.But I did lose a dog about 20 years ago when some be seen again.
Quiet fireworks will never happen.
So much distress multiple times per year, not only for our cats but for ourselves too.