Wheeeeeeeeeee...Snap! Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Popopopopopopopopop-BANG! Neighbourhood dogs incessantly bark and howl. From night into early morning colourful bursts, like Carnival costumes, explode in the sky. My dog trembles incessantly in my arms, even after the banging is dampened by sudden rainfall.
A flyer circulated by AWN (Animal Welfare Network) states that it is illegal to “set off” fireworks and advises pet owners to secure their pets, locate the origin of the fireworks, call the police and insist on law enforcement. Apart from being potentially dangerous in the wrong hands or in unfortunate circumstances, fireworks are highly traumatising for many animals and humans.
TTSPCA Tobago receives many calls and complaints about pet dogs who have run away and are missing after fireworks. There is a resulting increase in the purchase of pet tranquilisers at “celebratory” times of the year.
According to one Tobago pet owner: “My neighbour’s two huge dogs jumped the fence, and disappeared for four days. They returned tired, hungry and thin. Other dogs have been known to chew their chains in an attempt to get free, damaging teeth and gums—some even bleeding to death.
Tobago is famous for chained dogs, “out in de yard” all alone, who have no recourse when the fireworks go off, and no caring person to comfort them.”
Marion Phillip, owner of Marie’s Home for the Aged in Spring Garden Extension says that the elderly cannot sleep during firework displays. One terrified 94-year old man asked her if the banging was gunshots. Even when assured that they were fireworks, he still spent the night staring uneasily through the window and, uncharacteristically, did not leave bed the next day.
One 64-year old woman, who has been living with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) since a bad fall several years ago, has a collapsed tolerance to regular environmental sounds. For her, the “indiscriminate setting off of these noise makers” is a living hell.
“I experience fear of the next burst. As they occur, I jump out of my body...the intensity of the headache increases. I become very agitated and flail my arms about, wring my hands, become more wobbly, while my skin becomes hot and painful and, in frustration, I may weep out loud as I realise the futility of trying to tear the skin off my body. After a while, anger takes over...I have to exercise a lot of self control to stop myself from running (which at this stage I will be incapable of doing) screaming at the top of my lungs to find the source of the noise and ‘deal’ with them.”
The aftermath of a barrage of fireworks, firecrackers, bussed bamboo, can last for days, severely impairing her ability to function. She is not the only person in T&T living with TBI.
“Fireworks are explosives and as such are not toys. The dangers are equal to guns,” one retired tourism official stated.
“Guns are regulated and explosives must be regulated as well. I support firework displays only by state agencies at official national celebrations, dates and times clearly known to all, and the setting off of the explosions are in the hands of trained personnel, ie fire service officers.”
A recently-created online petition invites citizens to join in “asking our Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago The Honorable Dr Keith Christopher Rowley, for prescribed dates, times, places and conditions under which fireworks in Trinidad & Tobago may be set off, that our laws may be followed & enforced.”
The petition is available on the Facebook page: Regulating the use of Fireworks in Trinidad & Tobago.