Culture

Fireworks: Fun for us, fraught for our critters

|Penny Hilton|

Man and fireworks. Photo: Rakcevic Nenad, pexels.com

Fireworks! We look up into a night sky in anticipation, and see suddenly brilliant blooms of sparkling colors sizzling, soaring, and then disappearing as they fall toward us. We don’t just hear the invisible BANGS!, we feel them inside us. Calling the experience “fun” is understated and a little shy of what we really mean. In an age when we have become blasé about the amazing and spectacular world we have created, fireworks return us to magic and to awe.

But, as with magic, there is danger. Since private use of fireworks became legal in Maine, we have all heard or read the safety recommendations: don’t hold a burning firework in your hand, don’t point one at someone else. Have a bucket of water nearby. Have observers stand well away. They seem obvious. Yet in 2018, according to a report by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 9,100 people injured by fireworks were treated in ER’s across the US, most between June 22 and July 22. The age group with the most injuries was 22 to 44 years. Second highest was 10 to 14 years. Among the various kinds of injuries, 44 percent were burns. Seventeen percent of all fireworks-injured ER cases were subsequently admitted to the hospital. Less obvious is the danger that sparklers can pose to the small children who wave them in figure-8’s in backyards. Sparklers burn at 2,000 degrees. They can ignite clothing. Dropped onto the ground, they burn feet.

The family dog is the most likely to be distressed, sometimes to the point of panic that cannot be assuaged. The non-profit Animal Ethics explains that fireworks explosions are much worse for dogs than thunder because with thunderstorms, dogs are alerted by weather changes, in air pressure, wind, sky, before the lightening cracks arrive. With fireworks, there are no warning signs: there is a terrifyingly loud and sudden noise, and dogs, with hearing three times as acute at humans, have no idea it’s coming, or why. Depending on how near the explosion, fireworks can actually permanently deafen dogs. Fireworks season is also the season of lost dogs, who run away from wherever they are when they hear an explosion, and try to keep running till they can hear them no more. By that time, they are lost, or have run blindly into traffic. That’s why the strongest recommendations for protecting your dog from fireworks tragedies includes having it chipped, making sure its tagged collar is snug enough so that the dog cannot wrench out of it, and taking your dog out early in the day, before fireworks are likely to be set off. Before fireworks time, bring your dog to a dark, cozy spot – behind a chair, under a bed, in a closet, in a crate with a blanket over it, if it is crate-trained and comfortable in one. Turn on a fan or radio to mask the noise. Give the dog a treat – beef broth cubes made in ice cube trays are one person’s favorite. And if you stay with the dog, stay calm yourself, and comfort them in a calm way – long, firm strokes, low tones. Agitation from you – cries of “Oh, you poor baby, it’s okay, it’s okkkayyy!” – with quick touching or desperate grips will only confirm the dog’s fear. Treating a dog with a dose of melatonin, or Benadryl, or products like Compose-Eze can be helpful. Staff from The Gray New Gloucester Animal Hospital approves these medications, but suggests you contact a vet for the right dosage for your dog.

Domesticated animals are not the only ones affected. Birds can literally drop dead from fireworks explosion, from tachycardia or simply fear. Maybe more tragically, adult birds will fly off in a panic from nests, disoriented enough that they crash into things, or, as with dogs, go far enough away that they cannot find their way home – leaving their
young to die. Birds who don’t die or get lost may move away from their chosen spot for good. According to a local horse-owner, reactions to fireworks depends upon the horse. Some horses may be startled at the
first bang, but then be able to deal with them. Others are terrified at the first explosion, and become more so if the smoke from the fireworks blows their way. As with dogs, the largest danger with distressed horses is that they injure themselves trying to flee, jumping a fence, or running into traffic. Horse and Hound magazine suggests talking beforehand with neighbors planning on fireworks, and hopefully working together on timing and duration of their fireworks show to minimize the trauma to the horse. Routine is important to horses, so horses kept outside at night
should probably stay outside, and horses normally stabled for the night should be in their stalls. With horses, as opposed to dogs, it is more important that someone stay with them for the duration of their distress.

As for farm animals, our local farmers say that chickens (birds) and goats don’t like the noise, but can be comforted by being indoors with white noise or fans. And as for cows? Calls to local dairies were not returned. If any dairy-farmer would like to educate us, please do!