Fireworks stress out animals so much that their production of eggs and milk could decrease during the festa season, according to experts.
As the discussion about petards raged on this week, following news that fireworks would be let off from a field close to Għammieri farm, concerned readers told this newspaper that the blasts could even be detrimental to the animals’ physical health.
When contacted for comments about the general effect of firework blasts on animals, Maurice O’Scanaill, the Malta Veterinary Association secretary, said that the production of eggs or milk could decrease because of the stress caused by firework blasts.
“And apart from carcinogenic firework residues that have recently been reported in blood samples from humans (and therefore also in animals), sheer fright can lead to many physical injuries, such as when panicked animals jump walls or break through fences. These include cuts and lacerations and, more rarely, even broken legs,” he said.
You could never explain to animals what fireworks were
Dr O’Scanaill used to be called to farms to stitch up torn skin on legs of animals, such as cows – who would get injured when jumping with fright, some tearing off the skin on barbed wire fences.
He noted that you could never explain to animals what fireworks were, so you could not prepare them for those sudden blasts if they were very close by.
“And it would be impractical to sedate whole farms of animals like you can a nervous family pet,” he said.
Fellow vet Sammy Bezzina also said the the stress caused by firework blasts affected all types of animals, and the production of eggs by laying hens could drop drastically whenever fireworks were let off in the vicinity. The blasts also scare domestic animals, especially dogs. Noise-phobia in dogs, which abroad is related to thunder, is in Malta tied to fireworks.
Dog owners, especially those who live in central Malta, seek vets’ assistance in search of a remedy for their terrified dogs during summer, he said.
The fireworks in Għammieri were let off for Qormi’s St Sebastian feast celebrations with the blessing of the authorities. Permission to let off fireworks from there was granted by the Parliamentary Secretariat for Animal Welfare, headed by Roderick Galdes, a former Qormi Labour mayor.
A spokesman had told this newspaper that tests on the sound impact determined which type of fireworks could be let off, and not all fireworks were going to be blasted from there.
Asked again whether the Veterinary Services Department had taken into consideration the effect the blasts had on lactating and egg-laying animals, noise-phobia and physical injuries, the spokesman referred the newspaper to the previous replies.