This 4th of July, we boycotted fireworks!
This 4th of July, we boycotted fireworks. Why? Because fireworks cause enormous harm to animals, both wild and domestic, in addition to damaging the environment, aggravating asthma, and triggering PTSD. Here is the pledge over 50 people took as part of this awareness-raising campaign:
Refusing to purchase and shoot off fireworks
Sharing this pledge with others
For all their glamor, fireworks terrify countless animals, both wild and domestic, each 4th of July in the US. Millions of animals spend hours scrambling in terror as massive booms reverberate around them, and many die from sudden cardiac arrest as the result of dangerously high heart rates and sheer fright.
Dogs, in particular, are known to suffer enormously. Their hypersensitive hearing frequently makes the sound of firework blasts overwhelming, and many panic, trying desperately to locate somewhere to hide from the thunderous booms of nearby fireworks; in fact, it is estimated that 1 in 2 dogs suffer serious adverse reactions when exposed to the deafening sound of firework blasts.
Untold thousands of animals die as the result of fireworks, including dogs. In fact, dogs have been known to rip off their paw pads by frantically trying to escape the anxiety-inducing blasts of nearby fireworks; others die from heart attacks and stress, especially after getting wedged in fences from which they cannot escape.
Fireworks also disturb wildlife, causing many mother birds to flee from their nests to escape the unbearable cacophony of firework blasts; many of these mother birds fly away so hectically and become so disoriented from firework blasts that they cannot relocate their nests, leaving their babies to die of exposure. Rodents often spend hours running around in absolute terror, even hours after the firework blasts have stopped, and countless other animals suffer as well.
If we care about animals, then we ought to care enough about them to not cause them such extraordinary suffering by carelessly blasting fireworks on the 4th of July.
