For many people, fireworks are a must on New Year’s Eve – but many animals suffer from the bang, crawling away or running away in panic. Animal rights activists in Hesse are therefore also calling on this New Year’s Eve to stop or completely stop private fireworks.
Altenstadt/Sulzbach (dpa/lhe) – After the restrictions in the corona pandemic, the turn of the year is likely to be heralded in many places in Hesse this year with firecrackers and fireworks to the usual extent. Environmentalists and animal rights activists take a critical view of this: The firecrackers not only pollute the air, cause numerous injuries every year and produce vast amounts of waste – many wild and domestic animals also get under severe stress on New Year’s Eve. As in previous years, there are calls for bans or a ban on private fireworks.
On no day of the year is the fine dust pollution in the air higher than on New Year’s Eve, explains the environmental protection association BUND Hessen. That is why we are again in favor of a legal, nationwide ban on fireworks – even if we do not assume that this will happen. This is the only way to avoid the negative effects of the firecrackers: These include personal injury with some seriously injured, huge mountains of rubbish, massive air pollution, stress for people with lung diseases, noise pollution, frightened people and animals, stress on rescue workers and hospitals, according to the BUND .
Sigrid Faust-Schmidt from the Hesse State Animal Protection Association also explains: “From an animal welfare point of view, New Year’s Eve fireworks should actually be rejected. For all animals, from pets, wild animals, zoo animals to so-called farm animals, fireworks on New Year’s Eve mean stress.” It gets even worse because the lighting of the fireworks is no longer limited to the hour around the turn of the year – rather, the banging that sometimes lasts for days before and after New Year’s Eve puts the animals with their mostly sensitive hearing in constant panic.
Cats and dogs could at least be better protected from the New Year’s Eve banging by their owners. Outdoor cats should also be kept indoors around New Year’s Eve. “If they panic, they flee and hide,” said Faust-Schmidt. Most dogs – apart from very “deeply relaxed” specimens – should under no circumstances be left alone on New Year’s Eve. “When going for a walk, dogs should be walked securely on a leash before and after New Year’s Eve. Quite a few dogs that normally hear well have panicked and run away on New Year’s Eve because of a sudden bang – so it makes sense to be on a leash around New Year’s Eve.”
Faust-Schmidt recommended that pet owners who spend New Year’s Eve with their animals keep the window shutters and doors closed. Leaving the radio, television, or soft music on relaxes you. Dogs in particular are guided by the mood of their people. “If the owners are nearby and not worried, it is also easier for the animals to deal with the unfamiliar background noise, which may trigger escape, with less stress.”
The animal protection organization Tasso, which runs a pet register that allows found animals to be assigned to their owners, registers hundreds of lost animals every year, especially on New Year’s Eve. On the last day of 2021 and New Year’s Day 2022 alone, 454 dogs and 275 cats were reported missing to the organization across Germany. For dogs, that was twice as many as on an average New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and more than five times as many as on normal days. At the turn of the year, the organization is preparing for a further increase: “The increase in pets can lead to more animals escaping or being reported missing,” explained a spokeswoman.
