Fireworks: Highlighting Societal Issues?

Fireworks may be lighting up the sky this week, but they highlight a deeper social issue.

Personally, I feel indifferent about fireworks themselves.

However, on a wider scale I do feel they should no longer be available for public purchase and used only for organised events with considerate restrictions, including that on the decibel level of sound made.

I don’t think the banning of fireworks is required, because blanket bans rarely work successfully.

As I sat writing this at 10.30 on a Saturday night, fireworks have began to be set-off at random intervals on the local recreational ground causing my youngest dog to shake, pant and salivate after calming down from an organised display three hours ago.

There is a common misconception that comforting a dog in distress reinforcers the fear response, yet this is a fear response of the nervous system that is not under voluntary control.

As for Loki, this response will be the same for thousands of cats, dogs and equines all over the UK, before mentioning the impact on native wildlife and those in society who may suffer with PTSD; to have increased awareness of the effects that can be had on people, animals and the environment does not make one a snowflake.

Each year, be this New Year, Divali or Bonfire Night, hundreds of thousands sign petitions, take to social media and the regional news about the distress that fireworks have on our animals, and rightly so!

However, are fireworks a low-hanging fruit picked from the tree right outside the door?

Earlier this week I read that equine deaths reported, with an emphasis on reported, to the BHS as a result of fireworks were around 33 since 2021; this does not account for distress or injury caused as a result.

Earlier this week I read that equine deaths reported by the CPR as a result of the racing industry in Australia were around 174 within a single year, 2024 – 2025.

This is by no means singling our the racing industry, yet the contrast of the two numbers on the same day hold merit.

The repercussions of fireworks are felt closer to home by many, from the dogs by our sides to the horses that we own out at pasture; this makes the negative effects and the implication fireworks have harder to turn a blind eye to, and easier to pick-at.

Within this same week, 95% of the FEI panel approved a change in rules to British Showjumping, that is supported by 56 countries, for the new ‘bloods rule’ to pass.

The issue we seem to have is where we choose to look.

Improving welfare across the board is practically not difficult to do, yet in contradiction it is not always easy.

To choose ignorance on these matters is a choice, plain and simple.

Fireworks provoke a response because repercussions are more meaningful and are felt deeper when the effects are on our doorstep, and in our homes; it is easy to change the channel over, exit the internet browser or configure the algorithm.

It stops what you see, not what happens.

Society speaks.

So, we need to ask ourselves; do we continue to look to the sky for our eyes to be blinded by the lights, or do we look past them and into the dark where a whole world of welfare needs our attention each and every day of the year?