A Marlborough vet has backed calls from the SPCA to ban the public sale of fireworks to better protect animals.
Vet Centre director Stuart Burrough and Marlborough SPCA centre manager Kate Horrey said fireworks should be sold only to organisers of public displays.
Their call comes a week after two dogs in Marlborough were hit by cars after they were spooked by fireworks being let off.
Mr Burrough said he would welcome a review on the availability of fireworks.
"The major problem is that the whole thing spans out over a few weeks and that makes it a stressful period for animals.
"If it was restricted for one or two nights in a controlled environment, from pets' point of view, it would be a lot safer."
However, it would be a shame to spoil the fun for responsible people.
It was mostly dogs that were frightened and it was important to expose puppies to loud and sudden noises so they became used to it, Mr Burrough said.
Reducing the sight and sound of the fireworks by turning on music or the television as well as closing the blinds could help minimise the stress.
Ms Horrey said they didn't want to spoil anyone's fun, but if the sale of fireworks was limited to public displays animal owners would know when and where they would be let off.
They could then make sure their animals were safe and secure during those times.
All animals reacted differently to fireworks and some didn't mind them. But some at the centre had been scared to the point of having bouts of diarrhoea, Ms Horrey said.
Marlborough was lucky in that there wasn't much active animal cruelty, but firecrackers and animals were never a good mix, she said.
Mr Burrough said a dalmatian-cross dog frightened by fireworks leapt a fence nearly two metres high and ran kilometres from home before it was hit by a car on the highway near Blenheim.
He was able to alleviate the dog's pain, but the chest injuries it suffered on November 4 were too serious for it to survive. Mr Burrough and his staff worked on the dog for more than an hour before it died.
A second animal, a hunting dog, had to be put down after it was found with a badly dislocated lumbar vertebra by the roadside in Riverlands on Saturday morning. The dog was paralysed in its hind legs, Mr Burrough said.
The hunting dog had taken off from Stevenson St after hearing fireworks.
- The Marlborough Express
ROB MACINTOSH AND SIMON WONG
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