And with Chinese New Year just over and Hari Raya approaching in about a month’s time, the sounds of this “battlefield” will once again be disrupting the peace.
While fireworks are often looked on with awe by kids and adults alike, most animals are terrified of it, going into hysterics or literally shivering in fear.
Speaking with FMT Lifestyle, Dr Chan Kah Yein, the founder of an NGO called AnimalCare, recalled how her friend’s pets had a bad reaction to fireworks going off in the night.
“My friend Yi Lin’s dog, Chelsea, escaped during the festive season in 2015 and I found her 10 days later in a totally different area. Luckily, she was safe but can you imagine the distance she made to get to where she was found?”
The same can’t be said for Yi Lin’s other dog Dobby, who went missing several years prior because of fireworks and was never found.
Chan commented that these are just two out of the countless animals that ran away because they were startled by fireworks.
Explaining how loud fireworks and firecrackers affect animals, she said birds and rabbits, for example, literally drop dead from the sudden noise, and bees abandon their hives. Some cats and dogs go into “panic mode” and escape from their homes.
“I haven’t lost any pets because I keep them indoors, but even then, they scurry all over because they are terrified. My cats even starved themselves once when fireworks were going off all day.”
Stressing that she was not judging or dismissing the traditional practice of setting off fireworks, Chan pleaded that she only wanted the public to show more compassion towards other people’s pets and most of all, street animals.
This kind of consideration should be extended to fellow humans as well.
“Babies can suffer hearing loss if the noise level is above 120 decibels, and the elderly can get heart palpitations too from the shock,” she said.
On the other hand, Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB) founder Wani Muthiah said animals, such as dogs, have a hearing capacity that’s seven time sharper than humans, so one can only imagine how frightening the sound of explosions are for them.
While she advised that pets be kept safe indoors when firecrackers are set off, she also cautioned pet owners against chaining or tying their pets up as they may get strangled by their leashes when they struggle out of fear.
Wani said that MDDB often found runaway dogs particularly during Chinese New Year. Their rescued animals also had to be closely monitored to prevent them from turning on each other out of fear.
“There is nothing much we can do other than educating people of the damage fireworks can do to their pets. Many don’t know or perhaps don’t care that animals experience fear, insecurity, sadness and trauma because of it.”
Mirroring these sentiments, PAWS Animal Welfare Society shelter manager Edward Lim described fireworks as “short-term fun, long-term damage” where animals are concerned.
He said that the animals are terrified of the noise and often think they are in life-or-death danger when they hear it.
“Other than causing pets to run away from home and get lost, the extreme stress can even cause vomiting or diarrhoea in some cases I’ve come across.”
Lim added that while one can personally choose to stop setting off fireworks, it’s important to exercise due diligence by keeping your pets indoors and doing your best to make them feel safe.
Another method, if it comes down to it, is to keep your furry family members microchipped in case they run away and end up in an animal shelter.
“Fireworks are like ticking time bombs of tragedy just waiting to blow up, so isn’t it time for us to say no to fireworks?” Lim commented.
As of 2017, up to 444 cities in China have banned fireworks and a number of districts across the country also announced a whole-time ban last December, igniting many debates regarding its prohibition.