Topic: FIREWORKS AND ANIMALS

[Georgie]

Thing is, the MAJORITYof fireworks ARE still as they were when we were kids - I've been hearing them all evening. 

Where do you live, cloud cuckoo land?  The fireworks I recall as a child could hardly be heard from one end of the garden to the other.  And most didn't make a noise anyway such as traffic lights, catherine wheels, silver rain and roman candles.  I agree with the many folks here who have called for organised displays only.  I've got two cats: one is deaf and the other not at all happy.  :(

G x 

[grotbag]

My 5 cats and 3 kitten are not bothered about firewoks at all.and i dont think firewoks should be banned,but the sale of them should be restricted to a few days either side of 5/11.

[betula]

I am glad your animals are not distressed.

I do not think they should be banned ,just only for sale to people organising proper events.

Times have changed.

[Georgie]

I am glad your animals are not distressed.

I do not think they should be banned ,just only for sale to people organising proper events.

Times have changed.

Absolutely.  I was just calming my (nervous) cat when there was yet another series of loud (and I mean LOUD) bangs.  He's dived under the bed again.  :(

G x

[grotbag]

all  the "organised events round here are bieng held on sat 8/11,so poor  animals will have to go through it twce,and i bet the bangs will be a lot louder than tonights.

[SamLouise]

Thing is, the MAJORITYof fireworks ARE still as they were when we were kids - I've been hearing them all evening. 

Where do you live, cloud cuckoo land? 

Now why would you be rude during a civil discussion?  Most uncalled for.  Obviously the fireworks I am hearing this evening have not been flown in from the borders of Afghanistan and indeed differ very little from the fireworks I remember growing up.  I remember very noisy rockets as a child amongst many others.  I think many are conveniently forgetting this or just using selective memory.  Pet owners are angry and upset for their pets, I get it!! (I do have pets by the way!) but I also get that many, many more people enjoy the fireworks too :)  

[taurus]

The vet used to give me sedatives for our jack Russell as there was no doing anything with her when the fire works started.  One year we didn't start early enough and she had run across Swindon before she was taken to the police station.  Never did find out who the kind person was who rescued her.
I believe in live and let live.  But the size of some of the fireworks around these days makes you wonder where they come from.  Theres also the fact that as soon as its dark they start letting them off.  When you have someone on permanent nights they get woken up ( MR GRUMPY with a vengeance,I won't tell you where he would like to stick the fire works!!!!)
But all said and done I still think it would be a shame to stop this tradion.  Wood smoke, toffee apples, Jacket spuds in tin foil straight out of the fire, sparklers ect
OK I'm a sentimental old sod but so much of our traditions are being lost due to political correctness. Please can we keep this one?
                                         Kind Regards to you all,
                                                      Taurus

[Hyacinth]

Well, it's all gone quiet here, but there wasn't much around either in displays or bangs, even...

Like SamLouise (but I'm much older) I remember the horrible bangers as a child (penny bangers, were they?) and yes, those awful rockets...the sale of the bangers couldn't have been age-restricted back then, could they? All the orrible little boys of about 8 seemed to delight in throwing them about - mostly at the girls, I recall.

None of our pets over the years were ever seemingly stressed by the noise but more by the bright lights lighting up the room :-\...rather like lightening more than thunder?

My own bi*ch is more about the names of the fireworks these days :o ;) On Saturday I'll be at a party - we all buy just one firework (+ of course sparklers for the children).....I know that this year, like last year and the one before I'll go into the Firework Shop - and point - and the owner, just like last year and the one before, will have great fun in asking me exactly which one I want. :-[ ;D

[betula]

Hope it rains :(

[theothermarg]

Bobby ( thats him on the avatar) is curled up on our bed with his tail over his face
I am very surprised how quiet it has been these past few weeks. I expect them to go on for a bit as fireworks are usually cutprice for a bit after the 5th
marg

[posie]

We went to an organised display tonight having settled down the gruesome twosome with a large bone and the telly turned up for them.  I could not believe how many people actually took their dogs with them - one poor little mite was shaking so hard I could have scooped him/her up and run off.  Now THAT is irresponsible in my opinion.

Oh and in last 3 hours we've had 3 fire engines in the street behind me - couldn't you just throttle that Guy Fawkes!

[Solorn]

You can buy Bach Rescue Remedy from Morrisons. It's about £4.50 for a small bottle and you need 2 squirts on the tongue to use. It's perfectly safe for animals. I wish I had also bought the drops though as it would have been easier to give my animals drops in their water that to spray them!

My youngest cat spent the night hiding in any small space she should get in to, the other 2 don't care. I did spend an hour sitting on a damp lawn holding 2 scared chickens though. A family behind me set off some very large fire works less and they are only about 30feet away from my garden. They set the fireworks off at the end of their garden, which is the closest part to mine, and I could feel the debris landing on me. My poor silkies didn't cope well at all.

I love fireworks but I take my family to an organized display every year in Burnham-on-Sea. It's huge, fantastic fun, and set to music. Fireworks in the garden are great if you had some respect for your neighbors. Pity my neighbours need beating with a week old haddock.

[cornykev]

Thing is its not over yet, shops selling them off cheap, we'll have a few tonight more Friday and the Saturday bonanza, more Sunday and hopefully that will be it. Sam I know its something you really enjoy and no one would want to take it away from you. I will take my eldest along to the club at the end of my road to watch the display but can't go as a family as my three year old is terrified of the banging and the loud fireworks are defiantly not that of yesteryear but in case it was my hearing I asked OH, pub mates and blokes at work and all said the same as me, anyway enjoy yourself and that's my three pennith.  ;D ;D ;D

[Hyacinth]

your three pennith is definitely a price from yesteryear Kev ;D

[SamLouise]

The house on the other side of the road to us had a wonderful display in their garden this evening.  All us freeloaders on this side of the street stood outside our front doors to watch it  ;D

[lottie lou]

You are lucky you only get them on bonfire night or in the locality of 5 November!!  We seem to get them all the year round for various celebrations

[betula]

Thanks to everybody who contributed their stories of how distressed their animals were last night.

Hopefully some people might think twice about buying fireworks for home use.

Very sad to me that some people have such uncaring attitudes towards the
animals.

[SamLouise]

You are lucky you only get them on bonfire night or in the locality of 5 November!!  We seem to get them all the year round for various celebrations

We do seem to have been quite lucky the past couple of years, LL, as the celebrations have been pretty much restricted to a few days before the 5th.  For such an overly populated town, it's been pretty much ok.  I remember a little while back when it was a nightmare for months leading up to actual bonfire night with the hugest bangs and tremors going on outside.  I spent my nights in a tin hat behind the sand bags.  It wasn't an enjoyable experience at all and my sympathy goes out to anyone having to put up with that!   

[hellohelenhere]

I think it depends a lot on where you are. I grew up in the countryside and the fireworks were restricted to actual bonfire night parties.
Hackney, on the other hand, in East London, was absolutely atrocious for fireworks from about mid-October till mid-November. I lived just by Hackney Downs and the local youth would go there at all hours of the night to let off fireworks, plus all the ones in the street and just randomly at any time of day or night. Given that I heard real gunshots in the area on at least 2 occasions, not very relaxing... (I knew they were real those times, as I not only heard but saw them!) I really grew to hate fireworks - the bangs, anyway.
Here in Reading we had a lot of bangs for a few nights, but nothing today - bliss! No sirens, no helicopters. Definitely not Hackney. :D

[valmarg]

I think your animals would have gone ballistic round here.

We live in Alton (as in Towers).  Until a couple of years ago we had the joy of 'organised' displays.  The weekends either side of 5th November, we had five displays of 30 minutes each.  Friday and Saturday the first weekend, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday the second.  I've been sitting watching TV and the bangs from the fireworks have rattled the ornaments on the shelves.

I don't think the bangs were as loud when I was young.  The fireworks were much smaller.

valmarg