So sick of the constant stupid fireworks

[MrsKeats]

When will they hurry up and ban fireworks for private sale?
Have 2 dogs shivering under the sofa. Huge bangs outside. What if you have a baby in bed?
Anti social behaviour if you ask me.
Take your kids to a proper display.

Yes but again, just because it's the norm in a few places to go on for more than 3 days doesn't mean there should be a ban everywhere

If there isn't a ban everywhere - what, we carry on as we are? There is a Govt petition about this with over 300k signatures on it - so unlikely to be 'just a few places' which is due to be debated in parliament on Monday.

I am genuinely puzzled by how you think there is an issue with what the majority are proposing, which is that random people should not be able to buy boxes of explosives and let them off at any time and anywhere they like.

Not keen either
We have had more going off in our area tonight than yesterday in fact I can still hear them now.

I do think that the situation has got worse over the last few years. I had a dog for 13 years and I don't ever remember being terrorised by fireworks the way that we are now.

As they have become more accessible, more and more people are having their own displays. And concerns about Covid have led to some people having their own displays this year too (as set out by the RSPCA). www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/fireworks

Some people misuse them, and most people don't stick to the same time on the same date each year now. It makes it very difficult for people to plan for them.

And I don't see the problem with having licensed displays only - I agree @BackBackBack. It's safer not to have them going off in people's back gardens and it's less of a nuisance to the rest of the public if they are kept to specific times each year on specific dates.

@Notahandmaid

What *@Maverickess* said (very articulately).

The point is @DickMabutt73962 that it's happening in ENOUGH places for it to cause a lot of people and animals (not just domestic pets) misery. I've just seen a post on a group in Facebook about a horse that got spooked by a firework last night, jumped out of its field and into the road, and into the path of an oncoming car. The horse died and the car was a write off. Not an uncommon story sadly.

That's quite local to me (if it's the same story because sadly there's always more than one) and obviously though tragic for the horse (I'm a 'horsey' person so not minimising that here) I think the account said the driver was uninjured although the car was a write off, had it not been a smaller pony that could have been a very different story, horses are big and heavy and that driver could have been seriously injured or worse. And if the law that already exists about not letting fireworks off near livestock had been observed, never would have happened.

Yes, I saw that the driver was uninjured but, as you say, the outcome could have been very different.

You are deliberately being obtuse now willy
Because other things are anti social does not mean that the firework issue should be ignored.

I said many times that public displays are different matilda
If you must have your own then 11.20 at night like where I live is anti-social in the extreme.
Just do them at 7pm and have some bloody consideration for other people/animals etc.

Thanks nota
Signed.
Apparently my council is bringing in new measures.

Still going strong here with plenty of booming loud bangs. It's like my neighbours are in some sort of passive aggressive competition about who can set off the loudest most obnoxious firework.

@PinkWaferBiscuit

Still going strong here with plenty of booming loud bangs. It's like my neighbours are in some sort of passive aggressive competition about who can set off the loudest most obnoxious firework.

Snap. Very tired but can't go to bed as our bedroom is closest to the firework noise. It's my turn on the sofa with the dog tonight.

Snap. Very tired but can't go to bed as our bedroom is closest to the firework noise. It's my turn on the sofa with the dog tonight.

Sorry to hear you're still enduring the explosions too. Hope poor dog sleeps OK despite the noise. I kept the toddler up way past his bedtime today in the hope he will be in a deep sleep when they inevitably go off again in the early hours of the morning.

Indeed, I love have children still awake at 11pm 2 nights on the trot!

If you're happy to frighten pets you're a sociopath.

I hope everyone managed to get some sleep last night. It wasn't as bad here last night, but we had some rain so that might have ruined some plans.

Last night was even worse where I am than it was on Friday. Rather stupid really when Friday was 5th November but I guess a lot of the morons letting of fireworks don't know or care.

They started at 4pm and went on until gone 10pm. Our local facebook page was full of people with terrified pets. One poor dog had a heart attack and died and it was only 2 years old. Just so selfish people can have their "fun".

The noise was horrendous and almost constant.

Why can people not just have pretty fireworks. What pleasure and fun is had from fireworks that honestly sound like bombs going off?

What pleasure and fun is had from fireworks that honestly sound like bombs going off?

Some people do get pleasure out of loud fireworks. Not everybody likes the same things. It’s the same with everything.

I’ve hardly heard anything this year at all. A few vague pops yesterday and on Friday. I’d actually forgotten that it was firework night.

What pleasure and fun is had from fireworks that honestly sound like bombs going off?

I like the noise, the vibrations, the smell, the colour, the cold air, the spectacle. Its not the same at all without all of these.

Some people like smoking in public places too but we have to think of the greater good sometimes.

Most people on here are arguing for a sensible compromise-to ban private firework sales. That way you can still enjoy your cold air and pretty lights and bangs etc but neighbourhoods aren’t then terrorised for two weeks a year by inconsiderate people letting fireworks off at all hours.

@etulosba

What pleasure and fun is had from fireworks that honestly sound like bombs going off?

Some people do get pleasure out of loud fireworks. Not everybody likes the same things. It’s the same with everything.

I’ve hardly heard anything this year at all. A few vague pops yesterday and on Friday. I’d actually forgotten that it was firework night.

I get that everyone likes different things but, honestly, to enjoy fireworks that make such a loud bang it echoes and rattles windows I find very strange.

I can see the appeal of pretty fireworks and even the ones that make that sort of screeching noise even though I personally don't really like them but I don't want to hear a bomb going off, drowning out my tv no matter how loud I have it.

I have heard a bomb going off pretty close to where I lived and some of the fireworks today are louder than that was

l get that everyone likes different things but, honestly, to enjoy fireworks that make such a loud bang it echoes and rattles windows I find very strange.

It doesn’t really what you find strange. There is no question that a great many people do enjoy loud bangs.

Simply restricting days/times fireworks can be used, and the ages of who they can be sold to, does not work.

It is nigh on impossible to police and enforce firework law when it comes to sales to the public and general use - adults buy them then give them to kids, people use them outside the days/times they are meant to and there is NO way anyone could actually catch someone doing that in any meaningful way.

The psychological effects of sudden, unpredictable, startling loud noises on those with phobias/fears are awful (regardless of species) and to address those takes YEARS, and due to the way the mammalian brain learns, that work can be undone in moments!

For the benefit of the humans who find them terrifying, and the pets and the livestock and the wildlife I do think sales needs to be controlled and limited to:

Professional displays.
Licenced persons who need to show proof of a suitable venue and insurance before they can get that licence.
Only certain dates which are announced annually.
Displays must be announced in a variety of on and offline publications with sufficient notice (14 days).
Vendors have to check licences and keep details of buyers.

This would stop people buying fireworks and using them inappropriately. It would cost too much to buy them and too much if caught.

You could stop check people suspected of carrying illegal fireworks or storing them.

People would still be able to enjoy fireworks but at specific places and times and this predictability would make it possible for those who wish to avoid them to actually do that.

There is no good reason why anyone needs to buy explosives over the counter in the supermarket.
We tightened up our laws on who could have and use explosives over the years for really good reasons, I don't see why fireworks should be any differently, they are still dangerous!

[quote stingofthebutterfly]@PinkWaferBiscuit no, it's not a daft comment. If I go outside then it's full on. Here is no different to anywhere else. They're non-stop. I just struggle to believe that dogs and babies are that negatively affected by it if they're kept inside with general household noise going on. Some people will use anything as an excuse to get a bit of fun banned.[/quote]
You do know that dogs (most animals) in fact have much better gearing than humans, right?

"We all know that dogs have a keen sense of hearing and hear better than we do. Dogs hear nearly twice as many frequencies as humans. They can also hear sounds four times further away — so what human ears can hear from 20 feet away; our dogs can hear from 80 feet away"

Perhaps that'll help you understand how dogs can be affected by what you, luckily, can't hear. And also that they don't understand it's only fireworks. To them it's a big, scary noise.

I wish they'd just fuck off with them. They've started again here
4 tablets left for my dog, out of 10. Id hoped I'd have some left for new year but they'll be gone before the weeks out if this shit continues.
It can not be good for a dog to be dosed up night after night, but the alternative is a potential heart attack

[quote stingofthebutterfly]@PinkWaferBiscuit no, it's not a daft comment. If I go outside then it's full on. Here is no different to anywhere else. They're non-stop. I just struggle to believe that dogs and babies are that negatively affected by it if they're kept inside with general household noise going on. Some people will use anything as an excuse to get a bit of fun banned.[/quote]
Well, I can tell you that some dogs ARE affected by fireworks, even indoors, with the curtains shut and the TV on. Our late rescue dog hated loud noises - thunder and fireworks in particular. As soon as they started, she would run into the front room and climb up onto the back of the couch behind me, basically sitting on my head, shaking with fear, until the noise stopped.

Last night both our current dogs were upset by the fireworks - one lying shaking at my feet, and the other trembling on the couch between dh and me.

And if you read the rest of this thread, there are plenty of other people describing how scared their animals are - dogs, cats, even horses (see the account of a horse bolting at the noise of fireworks, hurting itself on barbed wire, and losing her foal).

I assume you don’t think we are all lying.

Nation of pet lovers. I'm not seeing it tbh.

Just because your animal is okay doesn't mean others aren't suffering. Very sad.