UK ponies: petition for limited firework use.

[Chrissytree]

Our little dog Cookie would like to appeal for anyone in the UK to sign a petition to limit the use of fireworks to official events. She shakes like a leaf every time she hears one and doesn't stop for half an hour. Poor little thing. Of course looking after her distracts me from my anxiety over the loud bangs!
The petition is above 80,000 and at 100,000 it potentially gets debated in parliament. There seem to have been a number of other petitions but they haven't been so close to the target as this one.

So if you'd like to sign the petition it just takes a minute
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/109702

[Thunderwing]

I dunno. I don't think I support this. Small family gathering fireworks are fun, I wouldn't want anybody saying I could never do it again.   We had fireworks at our wedding, it was a blast.

Sorry your dog doesn't do well with loud noises, have you exhausted all ways to try and get her past her anxiety?

[Taffeta]

I actually agree with this - not just for pets and wild animals that they affect, but also the high risk that's posed by people using fireworks irresponsibly. Fairly often round Guy Fawkes there are incidents with kids being hurt or something happening to someone because they thought a firework was spent and it wasn't...

It's just not worth the risk.

That and the fact that there are laws about how late fireworks can be set off and New Year and Nov 5th are the only times that it's allowed past I think about 11 o'clock. The number of firework displays however that happen at other odd times of the year past midnight back home...*shrug*. There is a big problem with people disregarding these rules. There are also related rules about bonfires and areas those aren't allowed but they still happen and creatures who try to hibernate in them get killed as a result. (For anyone not familiar, fireworks and bonfires traditionally go together in the UK in November, although burning the Guy is a less common sight now than it used to be and tends to be more in public displays if it happens anyhow).

I personally think fireworks should be professional display only and I have thought so ever since a kid had their fingers blown off one time not far from where my family home is...but I realise it's something that polarises people and, given the Nov tradition, probably won't change even with a petition.

[melodys_angel]

Not that I can sign it, but I don't think I agree with the primary reason for the petition.

Most animals react to loud sounds..trying to get them to cope with a severe thunderstorm usually isn't fun.  That to me just says 'preventative measures'.

You aren't going to eliminate all of the fireworks, because people might have holidays that aren't in line with just whats going on in your country (we get a lot of July 4th fireworks for example).  Even if you manage to get things banned, people are not going to stop setting them off and can easily argue over their own rights or just not knowing.

case in point: Did you know that my city forbids tobogganing?  I didn't, up until I read an article on it last year.  If I was to tell my neighbor..or another family member, theres a 99.9% chance they wouldn't know either.  So, if the want comes up....they are going to go tobogganing.

What you can do--which will work much better in the long run--is figure out what calms your companion and work on establishing that environment when things happen.  Ive seen small closed off (no window) rooms work wonders on dogs in particular, with some calming music going. Maybe that will work.  If not, im sure there are other things you can try

[kaoskat]

I feel your pain. My neighbors shoot off fireworks all night most nights and blast their over loud music all the others. It's obnoxious.

[Chrissytree]

Thanks for your opinions. I didn't really think it would be a polarising issue. I've got anxiety issues so I've been avoiding displays since I was a kid and I know that people with PTSD suffer at the time of year also. I don't know how strictly regulated fireworks are in other places but they're widely on sale in November for Bonfire night. Anyone over 18 can legally buy them and of course kids can get hold of them too.

It used to be different when they weren't on sale *everywhere*. Around here there'd be one village display once a year and other places would also do the same so there were very few private displays - and if there were they were the smaller types.

If we know there's going to be a display then we can prepare for it. Cookie has a thunder shirt which helps a little and we turn the TV up and have music playing in other rooms to try and drown it out. We had 2 solid weeks of fireworks around the beginning of November. Mostly during the evening but some random ones at 12-1am and even a couple of extremely loud bangs at 3am. There's nothing we can do to prepare for that! Ideally if the sales were regulated to organised events then it might at least limit them to weekends or ban the sale of the massive loud ones to the general public.

This petition would only get the question asked in parliament so there's no guarantee of any regulations anyway.

[melodys_angel]

Ah, I can understand not being able to prepare for the random 3am bangers...but you cant prepare for a bolt in the blue at 3am either--and those are much louder (My poor comet..I swear he would jump and cling onto the ceiling if he could ><)

Actually, I get pretty anxious when theres a severe thunderstorm rolling.  Because I cant prepare for it.  But that's another topic entirely.  I guess know that you aren't alone as far as anxiety goes--it just pops up in different forms

I just wanted to try to give a bit of a different perspective on things.  I do hope you can find some kind of compromise.

[joce]

I guess they have never bothered me because my animals are used to us shooting. Loud noises are nothing new. I think it's good to get them used to loud noises like that. I've been riding and had a car back fire and they did not blink. Our fair also does fireworks. Fairly normal to have people shoot here though so animals are generally fine

[Wardah]

Maybe they could do what they do in my state. They allow fireworks but only the ones considered "safe and sane". This means no loud explosions but allows things like sparklers and fountains. People still buy the illegal ones from out of state but plenty of people are satisfied with what is legal.