Frightened animals and birds go cranky

Charu Chhibber in Chandigarh

The festival of lights invariably turns out to be the worst time for animals, especially dogs and strays. Apart from witnessing a significant rise of trauma cases caused by high noise pollution, allergies, injuries, and burns, acts of cruelty against animals escalate to a whole new high. 

“The mere thought of our tiny pooch hiding beneath the cabinet in the remotest corner of the house, scared for his life as neighbour’s kids burst crackers wrenches our hearts,” says Roopika Dhillon, city-based animal rights activist.

Neeru Sidhu, member, Animal Welfare Board of India, has an answer. “People don’t care about the hapless animals when they burst crackers on Diwali.” 

Sidhu recalls the Diwali of 2015. “A stray canine that has been living with me since the time she was born 19 years ago got so scared of the crackers that she wandered onto the road and eventually got lost. She returned home 10 days later in a very bad condition. This happens to many animals every Diwali.” 

She says children think chasing animals, scaring them with crackers is a game. “It is even worse for birds. They don’t have any defence mechanism against crackers, which is why they suffer the most.”

There is a reason why animals, especially dogs and birds are more susceptible to restlessness and stress during Diwali. “Because of loud noises, animals, especially dogs try to run away. They hear much higher frequency sounds than we do and get stressed, as a result of which they often become victims of accidents,” says Dr Kanwarjit Singh Bhangu, joint director, animal husbandry department, Chandigarh.

He says the most common effects of the noise on animals are aggressive behaviour, fear, loss of appetite, salivation and defecation. The more serious repercussions include breathlessness, skin allergies, damage to ear drum, shock, permanent deafness or blindness and even death due to heart failure. 

Local veterinarian and consultant, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Chandigarh, Dr Bajwa, says, “Every year animal shelters report a rise in the number of pets getting lost during Diwali. Scared, restless and stressed because of constant and loud noises, they try to flee far from crackers.”