This is one of those things I’ll stand ten toes down on, especially today after seeing all the posts on our local community facebook group about injured horses, lost dogs, and sleepless nights. Here’s my OpEd that I wrote for TurnoutHQ last week. Thoughts? I hope your holiday was relatively uneventful.
breedrideevent.com 
My mare coliced because of it, so yeah F fireworks, gunshots, and all stupidness during this holiday.
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I agree that fireworks are unethical. The harm done to wild & domestic animals, the disruption to humans, the effect on those with sensory issues & PTSD…there’s really no justification for them anymore. At the very least, they should be banned outside of commercial displays. But I think it’s best to ban them altogether. The problem is we live amongst a culture that has its own limitations regarding what they believe are their inalienable rights. It’s a disease of selfishness & entitlement, a lack of respect for others, a lack of respect for nature. It’s getting worse, not better.
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My challenge is the commercial display is, I do not exaggerate, 100 yards from my house. Because “that’s where we’ve always done them”. Nevermind that in the 50+ years since they started there, the number of residences in the immediate area went from 1 to 20+, and in that same time span the climate has shifted toward a far more hot/dry pattern, increasing the fire danger. 3 of us in the immediate vicinity have horses or other livestock (chickens, goats). Most of the folks in the area have cats and/or dogs.
And yet, because it’s “always been there”, and the fireworks “bring people to town” (thus inviting them to spend their money), the chamber of commerce pays for them, every year. Despite complaints from residents.
So I spend every 4th of July calling friends and asking if I can move my horses to their place overnight. Lucky for me, I have good friends and well-travelled horses who don’t think twice about overnighting in unfamiliar surroundings, but it’s still annoying. I shouldn’t HAVE to do that, just because someone decided it’s a good idea to shoot off commercial fireworks in the middle of a small historical town, in which every building is made of wood….
Rumor has it they’re saving up to switch to a drone show next year, which is at least quieter? I do know my horses aren’t bothered by drones, and at least a drone won’t set my house on fire, but it’s still annoying. Can’t we just all hang out with our friends and celebrate that way? Quietly? And preferably over by 11pm at the latest?
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I live out in the boondocks, and it was a war zone last night. My pullets were feeling very frazzled by the experience, and I found one of my chickens had gotten too confused to find her way into the coop. Thankfully both horses seemed unphased by it, and with every fan in the house running our cats were fine too.
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Loud fireworks are *not* ethical. Said as someone from a family that is deeply ingrained in fireworks culture. The ‘personal’ fireworks are the worst, IMO, bringing the harm into neighborhoods.
Light shows, drone shows, things that don’t have the bangs and noise – I don’t know enough at this point. It would be nice to have a more painless way to celebrate.
Even community-show fireworks, all in one place and handled exclusively by professionals, can have their impact on animals, people, and the environment.
It would seem that any holiday celebration that means that police, fire departments, emergency rooms and veterinarians are all-hands-on-deck, far beyond the usual family gatherings of non-fireworks holidays, indicates that something is very off-kilter about it.
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All of this! I commented above about the commercial show being literally in my backyard. A friend of mine is the fire chief for our local rural VOLUNTEER fire department, and one year, he said “You know, if would be really nice to be able to spend the holiday with my own family instead of running around in my side-by-side managing the stupid people illegally setting off fireworks in town and then manning the trucks during the professional show.”
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