The explosion that happens when a firework is set off can cause animals to have heart problems, nausea, tremors, debilitating fears and lightheadedness. It can also lead to “acoustic stress” as most animals’ ears are much more sensitive than humans.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Town in Italy use Silent Fireworks as a way of Respecting animals
The explosion that happens when a firework is set off can cause animals to have heart problems, nausea, tremors, debilitating fears and lightheadedness. It can also lead to “acoustic stress” as most animals’ ears are much more sensitive than humans.
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11 comments:
It is really important to consider the effects of what we do on the world around us, and I feel like these fireworks are a great example of doing that well. Though this article focuses on pets, I also imagine the sound of fireworks could harm wild animals that live in the area. Even so, fireworks are so culturally embedded, that trying to get rid of them or use them less wouldn’t have been a viable solution. This invention helps fix the problem without forcing people to give something up. I feel like that mentality is what we need for larger global problems as well. A lot of things we use on a daily basis and take for granted have a host of negative impacts on the world, but getting our society to give them up in unrealistic. The only way to decrease the negative results of the way we live is by finding ways of decreasing the problems with the things we use.
Reading this article, I am reminded what a terrible environmental toll so much of our industry takes. From huge scenic elements constructed out of non-biodegradable foams and plastics to common use of lauan ( a rain forest product) and cork, (a critical and quickly vanishing part of Spain's forest ecosystem), theater is by no means an environmentally friendly, or even environmentally conscious entity. While this is changing, with sustainable and recycled building materials becoming more easily procured, cheaper, and more popular, theater and the rest of entertainment, from outdoor concerts to the humble (or not-so-humble, depending) high school play, are more slow on the uptake than other sectors. As more schools add sustainable and green architecture to their course listings, the farthest that we seem to have gotten here in the school of Drama is reading plays about climate change. While those beautiful pieces certainly did their part in engaging audiences and raising awareness, I'll be interested to see if, or when, the design and production curricula include sustainable building practices and material sourcing. More research is required.
My jaw actually dropped reading this headline. Having spent a vast majority of my childhood weekends in Florida at Disney World, fireworks were really more of a fact of life than something anyone would consider as being harmful to the animals. There is one park in Disney World called the Animal Kingdom, and now I'm wondering just how scared those animals must be at night. Animal Kingdom is relatively far from the other parks, and there is the possibility that the fireworks aren't within earshot of that park, or at the very least the secluded animal enclosures towards the back of the park, where you can go on safari. Chickens producing fewer eggs after a fireworks display is sort of terrifying, as you truly never know what may be around when you set off fireworks. Collechio is a town that we all could take an example from as far as caring about our animals. The shock of things exploding in the sky around them must be too much for their tiny bodies to handle, which goes back to the fact in the article about the animals proceeding to get hit by cars in their stupor. Looks like PETA's next crusade might be against fireworks.
I have seen what this article is describing first hand – my family’s dog is terrified of both thunder and fireworks. He gets very scared and shakes! I can only imagine what wild animals must think, since our pets are already exposed to many weird man-made sounds. I think this town’s move to make a law prohibiting loud fireworks demonstrates their serious consideration of both pets and wild animals alike. There is no question that loud noises like fireworks do disturb wild animals and can even have long term effects on animal populations.
I am definitely someone who enjoys a good fireworks show – the explosions are definitely very exciting! I think there are different implications for fireworks displays in small towns vs. big cities, due to their proximity to nature. On the other hand, you may have many pets, and even people, who you are disturbing with fireworks displays such as those common in cities on New Year’s Eve.
I think the most obvious alternative to loud fireworks is having musical accompaniment, which I know is done in Boston for the 4th of July. Because fireworks are so central to many celebrations, taking the “boom” out of fireworks displays will be a hard sell. I think using a combination of conventional and silent fireworks is definitely a place to start, and that the use of music to create accompaniment will help increase use of silent fireworks.
I had never even thought about the implications of using fireworks in an environment that is in proximity to an area with a significant amount of wildlife. I love this idea, and hope that this is the next frontier. I immediately think of Orlando, where fireworks are set off consistently throughout all the major theme parks every night. There is a very significant amount of wildlife in Florida, and I would love to see a company like Seaworld, which constantly praises itself for caring for animals and the environment to be promoting an idea like this. While I can see Disney executives not wanting to compromise on the booming sounds of their fireworks, the consumers have the right to speak up and ask for these firework alternatives, not the executives. Thus, I hope this idea continues to be promoted so that people can become more educated on the subject!
I had no idea that fireworks harm animals so much, but now that they point it out, it makes a lot of sense. I know I for one love the loudness of the fireworks, the louder the better, but for the sake of everyone’s pets I think Italy has the right idea. We often forget how big we are in relation to house pets, and how much worse our hearing it compared to theirs. The vibrations of the explosions themselves can be felt in our bodies; how much worse is it for the small chickens that have hollow bones? We might be able to hear well, but it is nothing compared to how well dogs can hear. Better hearing means a more delicate inner ear, which is that much easier to damage.
Simply moving firework displays away from wildlife to big cities won’t help because the amount of people who have pets. Basically no matter where you go, loud fireworks are going to have a negative impact on animals. This is an interesting issue and I’m curious to see how the public reacted when they switched to silent fireworks and the ways they are going about enforcing and encouraging people to make the switch.
I guess I always new that animals were more sensitive to fireworks than humans are – I mean, it’s not like they know that they’re just for show. I grew up in a small-ish town outside of Boston, and we had our annual firework show basically in the middle of the town at the high school, which is surrounded by woodlands and many neighborhoods are within a block radius. Something else that made me not think too much about this topic is the fact that I always see families with their pets at the fireworks show every year. I really appreciate the consideration being taken into account by Collecchio, and would be very excited to see more places around the world adopting this practice. I understand that a lot of the appeal for fireworks is hearing the blasts go off, but maybe we could take a step further into making them creative light shows with musical accompaniment instead. My town actually had music playing during the fireworks for the tercentennial and it went pretty well.
I think this is a really good idea that I am surprised was not thought of earlier. I do not have a pet so I never realized or thought about how fireworks would affect animals. I can imagine how scary it would be for them because they just hear a lot of really loud booms and they have no idea what it is from. They probably think something is wrong or they will be in danger. You cannot really tell an animal to relax because it is just a celebration. It is sad that we use fireworks as a means of celebration while it really hurts and scares animals. There could be animals on the ground by where the fireworks land because they cannot really be told to not stand in a certain place. The falling ash can burn them and it can really hurt them. It would also be a lot louder and scarier if they were closer to where the fireworks were shooting off. I am interested to see if silent fireworks become more popular.
I’ve never really thought about the impact that fireworks would have on animals but it makes sense that it wouldn’t be good for them and that they wouldn’t like it. Almost nothing bothers my dog but he doesn’t like thunder and that is much tamer than a full fireworks display so its easy to see that animals are more sensitive to sound than we are. I’m kind of surprised something like this hasn’t happened sooner, personally the part of fireworks that I care the least about is the sound. To me the visual spectacle is much more impressive so I don’t think changing them to make it safer for animals is that much of a sacrifice. Sure some people would be bothered by it but at the end of the day taking care of our environment should take precedence over one part of celebration. Especially when you can still enjoy most of the spectacle of fireworks without sound.
While I think it’s great that people are making efforts to protect animals from being distressed or hurt from the loud noises of common events like fireworks displays, I was surprised that this article didn’t mention anything about this having the potential to be a really great opportunity for people with hearing sensitivity or over- stimulation problems. The first thing that came to mind for me was memories of packing up the car with my parents and older brother to go see the fourth of July fireworks downtown, and setting up our blankets on the hill, only for one of my parents to have to go back to the car with my brother and sit with him to watch the fireworks from there instead, because his autism makes him very overly sensitive to loud noises such as thunder and fireworks. Not to detract from the main issue this company was meaning to address, but I wish that more entertainment companies were making efforts to make inclusive experiences that were more safe, comfortable, and accessible for people who don’t experience the world in a traditional way. I can see this kind of idea translating very well into the idea of concerts and theatrical performances. My brother loves visual spectacle, but isn’t able to experience many of them because of his autism. Sometimes, I wish that people had the same amount of love and care in their hearts for animals as they did for their fellow humans.
What I found most interesting about this article is the fact that their is technology for quiet fireworks. Every 4th of July I always go to my friends house and watch fire works over a lake from their dock, while their dog was in a corner shaking. I think we all are aware that animals take poorly to loud noises and vibrations, like during a thunder storm. When I read that it was possible to have quiet fire works I was surprised, I thought the noise was just what happened when you set off a fire work. If the technology is available I think that they should be used wide spread, beyond just reasons of house hold pets. As Sasha Swartz mentioned in her comment more people can really appreciate fire works if they use quiet ones. I never thought that the loud booming sounds from fire works was an enjoyable part of the spectacle, I used to always cover my ears when I was younger seeing fire works, and even will discreetly do it now.
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