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Source: Reuters -
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The SPCA has renewed its call for a ban on the sale of fireworks to the public following three incidents in which fireworks directly contributed to the death of animals over the weekend.
A frightened American bull terrier died when it tried to escape over a fence and got its collar stuck, choking to death.
The dog's Tauranga owner was devastated by the incident, as she thought keeping the dog in the garden while she set off fireworks was safe.
In another incident, a 12-year-old thoroughbred horse tripped and broke both its front legs after bolting from a group who had sneaked into his paddock at the Greenhithe Pony Club to set off fireworks.
The horse's owner, 20-year-old Emma Craig, said he was tired and sore when he was discovered the next morning after spending a night in pain. He had to be put down.
And Nelson SPCA officers were shocked to find a dead blackbird with battery-sized fireworks taped to its body in a deliberate act of cruelty.
A spokesperson for the branch said the fireworks season is already stressful enough for animals without deliberate acts of ill treatment.
SPCA Auckland Executive Director Bob Kerridge said: "As long as we sell fireworks to just anybody, we are going to have problems when it comes to irresponsible firework use."
Adding to the SPCA's problems over the Guy Fawke's period was a group of residents who held a Guy Fawke's "party" just metres from the Tauranga SPCA shelter.
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