A baby red panda at Edinburgh zoo choked on her own vomit in terror at the fireworks last week

Well yes, so what is your point? You asked what difference organised displays would make, I answered. I didnt say that I had the solution to everything, simply that in my opinion, only organised displays being allowed would give animal carers more time and information to protect the animals in their care.

This happened on bonfire night, I thinknthey should have been able to predict fireworks then!

Because they need to be approved, with notifications etc. If only organised events happened then places like animal shelters, zoos etc could prepare and arrange as best they can to protect their animals. Same goes for pet owners. If you live near a place that has a display on you could arrange for kennels or a "sleep over" for your pet somewhere further away for example.

I dont do pets but I know from me NDN who have dogs that its the random fireworks between mid October to NYE that are the problem. They are prepared for Bonfire Night and the weekends either side (and now Halloween as a lot of people seem to have fireworks then too), but a random Friday night with a load of fireworks is what sets their dogs off worse.

Why would organised displays be any less frightening to animals? They usually seem to be bigger and louder fireworks.

I hate fireworks. It basically is throw money into the air for the sake of a few seconds, followed by animals terrified. It's disgusting really waste of money and time

Yes and neither are native to Edinburgh city centre which is the issue.

The school should be teaching the children it’s dangerous to set fireworks off near animals and not have a display in its current location.
Why don’t you send the school a bill for the loss to your business, with photos.
Plus if it is a village school maybe put leaflets through everyone’s door asking for support, or hand them out at the school gates. Id like to think if kids and parents knew what was going on they’d be shocked and support you @Serencwtch

I agree with you. The school is thoughtless - though I take it this is the village school, so maybe difficult to find a field not near a farm? But there must be somewhere!

The school is next to the farm so any fireworks are directly over the farm buildings & fields.

There are currently no laws or restrictions preventing them from holding a display there. The guidelines state 'fireworks should not be set off near farm buildings or fields where there are horses or livestock' These are guidelines only so there are no penalties for ignoring them & nothing we can do.

We strongly objected but they repeated it this year.

I think there needs to be restrictions put in place by the government. They need to define what is meant by 'near a farm' eg 500m and make it illegal to set off fireworks within that restricted zone.

Poor little thing...fireworks terrible for all animals and some people.

Who's going to stop them? Currently anyone can organise a display, there is no need to get permission. That should change.

So why was the organised display allowed at all? Does the school own the farm?

We can dress it up. Or be realistic, if you want to breed pandas to stop them becoming extinct, then a zoo is the only place to do it, and it has to pay its way.

Yes, YABU. Edinburgh Zoo should have taken more care of its infant pandas since it knew when there would be fireworks. There are also already sufficient laws governing fireworks as to time and place - we don't need any more.

You are aware that giant pandas and red pandas are not the same, aren't you?

Quite possibly they do do more damage. I've no idea. But I feel this isn't about that. There's huge debates that could come from this about stuff like who does more harm to planet. I'm not a mad environmentalist so I hope it doesn't come across like that. I simply don't see why the bangs are necessary when they causes so much harm. I think from your thread you agree, drones and light shows would be an ideal solution!

I'm not really a massive MN commenter but someone posted something early on that I felt needed a response and it's spiralled (and I don't believe that person responded to my points so they've either ignored it, or hopefully they've either took stock of what they said)

I understand there's a huge bigger picture that people have brought up.... ie "lots of you can't care about animals if you eat meat", the politics of using the red panda to promote an argument about fireworks, whether the animals injured do more harm than fireworks. It's too complex. The bare bones for me really is, yes lots of people like the fireworks but ultimately the bangs causes a lot of harm to animals and people so why not have best of both worlds and have just silent organised displays?

The noise of a firework indisputably causes considerable distress to an animal. Whether someone likes animals or not, I think you have to question who is comfortable causes such intense distress to another living creature for what is ultimately less than 30 minutes of enjoyment watching lights and bangs when there's an easy solution that suits everyone. We watch the displays for 30 mins , enjoy the lights, prob enjoy a pie and pint and then trot off home and off to bed all forgotten about. For the sake of our 30 mins of fun, some poor animals is utterly distressed. Some dog owner is heartbroken watching their large dog trying to squeeze themself into a tiny spot to cower from noise etc. it's not really justifiable to me.

As it's an official display, are the fireworks particularly loud? My experience of professionally choreographed displays is that they're often accompanied by music, which obviously needs to be heard. Taronga zoo is at least a mile and a half from the launch site which is going to be a lot different from someone launching rockets from a back garden in the houses which back right onto Edinburgh Zoo.

This. It's absolutely disgusting what people can justify for profit. Poor, poor animals.

That’s a tiny section of the giant panda enclosure. They had big outdoor areas too. They could choose pretty freely where to be.

Well said
Why livestock farmers and meat eaters try to justify themselves is beyond me. Own it. There’s nothing happy clappy about killing animals.

Agree @Keeptherings
of course!!!!! they feel fear, they sense death and they feel pain.

??
I don’t know of other countries but, with a son who is a zoologist and involved in UK zoos, you don’t have to get permission to euthanise an animal.
It is carried out by veterinarians who must follow their own best practice for the welfare of animals.
Again I reiterate, animals suffer because of loud foreworks….it’s a fact.

I do believe future generations will look back to zoo's in cities and think wtf were they thinking. Cities are noisy places you cant get away from that

these animals should not be kept in city zoo's, out of town/cities safari type parks where you may or may not get to see them are a far better option for breeding endangered animals

I have loved seeing animals in zoos but its not right we can't keep fooling ourselves that this is fine as long as we are keeping certain species breeding

@Areolaborealis i doubt this is there full time enclosure. zoos use these for if a panda or other animal is vulnerable and needs more supervised care, be it that they are pregnant, orphaned like roxie was or in need of medical attention

Yes, a lovely experience for pandas at Edinburgh Zoo!

https://www.ashwoodscotland.co.uk/new-panda-enclosures-edinburgh-zoo/
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/15/edinburgh-zoo-leaked-cctv-still-keeper-fleeing-giant-panda-enclosure