Cruelty to Animals on New Year's Eve

Slumped on the dirty kitchen floor, our dog Poochie looks dead tired.

She's been listless in the past couple of days especially today. I'd attribute that to the incessant barking she does whenever she hears firecrackers. The occasional firecracker explosion day and night keeps her awake.

She doesn't usually sleep this way. She'd always lie on her side which is a more comfortable position for her to sleep soundly. Here though, it's like she just dropped on the floor and closed her eyes.


But that's not all. She's become destructive as well.

After sensing that we're all inside the house and closed the exterior doors, she'd paw and scratch the exterior door at the kitchen.

We don't have an aluminum screen door so she scratches the paint finish of the wooden door. For several nights, I had to put a used plywood panel to protect the door from her scratching.

So when I heard a local Animal Welfare Group asking for a ban on firecrackers, I listened with interest.


Animal Rights Group Against Firecrackers

The local Animal Rights Group, PAWS or Philippine Animal Welfare Society called for a moratorium on firecrackers on New Year's Eve. The group maintains that firecracker explosion could cause ear injuries to animals that have a keener sense of hearing.

With a sense of hearing that is at least 10 times more sensitive than humans, pets and other animals are likely to suffer from severe stress. This is apart from the possibility of some animals getting poisoned after ingesting leftover firecracker materials.

I'm not exactly a dog lover, but I do appreciate and understand the kind of stress that pets go through and I'm supporting this cause.

With the advent of beautiful fireworks display viewed for free in recent years, I've stopped buying firecrackers altogether.

But I supposed old habits die hard. That neighbor of yours thinks it's macho to light big-ass firecrackers. In reality all it does is add more to the noise and air pollution. And he'll continue lighting up the plaplas, superlolos and sawas every New Year's Eve.

Well, that's probably until he loses some of his fingers, hands or his sight.