I read this story and felt very ill.

This is such a tragic story, I wish they would ban the sale of fireworks and just have organised displays. I think this is something that all us dog lovers need to make a fuss about and set up a campagin to ban the sale of fireworks to the general public!!!!

Runaway Dog 'Blown Apart'
Updated: 11:32, Monday October 31, 2005
Police are hunting yobs who blew a pet Yorkshire Terrier to bits with fireworks.  The 11-year-old dog was ripped apart by a blast after she ran away from her owners.  The killers filmed the attack on their mobile phone, The Sun reported.
Maureen and Keith Barrington, both 67, said the dog had bolted from their garden when fireworks startled her.  Mr Barrington, who found the animal near the couple's West Yorkshire home, said: "She had been blown to bits...I knew straight away it was her because of her collar."
He suspected Emmie had been hit by a car and then attacked as she lay in the road.  Mr Barrington, from Linthwaite, hoped the animal had died before the blast.  He added: "But whether she was alive or dead, it was an absolutely disgusting thing to do.
"My wife is just getting over cancer and I've had a triple heart bypass - but Emmie was something to live for." 
Mrs Barrington said: "They (the yobs) are sick in the head.  "They can't be right because who would want to do that?"

I heard this on Radio 1 at dinner time :( Every year we hear about these stories, its absolutely appalling..what goes throw these peoples heads????

Edited to add, I think fireworks should only be available to licensed displays, but personally I don't 'get' them. Luckily our dogs aren't in the least bit bothered but I know alot of people who's dogs are affected, not to mention all the other animals that suffer because of them.

That makes me feel sick. I would love to help ban fireworks on sale and only organised diplays should have them. It would not only save on animals getting hurt, but also the amount of children who end up in casualty due to them would significantly decrease.

How do you go about trying to get these banned though? Its a great idea, but can't see it happening :(

Exactly kids get hurt aswell and happens year after year, it seems nobody takes notice. Every year we see the same stories which involve animals and kids that get badly hurt :(

I think the best way is write to your local MP and write directly to Tony Blair. Other than that we could try and start a petition ( I don't quite know how you go about that and what rules would apply if any ).

Who knows if that got enough letters maybe they would listen!

Something has to be done, surely they can't keep ignoring these incidents.

And yet the government will put all this time and energy into banning drinking on trains, smoking in pubs, docking - the list goes on.

Every year we see kids and animals maimed or killed by cars, do we ban them?

generally, someone doesn't take a car and drive it at someone else.

I had a firework put down the back of my jacket as a youngster, I was very lucky not to have been killed. These are lethal weapons that are too available to idiots. Folk are not allowed to walk round with knives and guns - why should they be allowed to walk round with mini explosives?

We are talking about two totally different issues. Yes alot of children and animals get run over every year BUT they generally run out in front of the car. The person driving the car didn't run them over on purpose.

We are talking about some nutter blowing up a dog, it's cruel and done on purpose because they are sick, I'm disgusted you have dismissed the real issue here.

CholeH - totally agree why should people be able to wander around with mini explosives?? Very well said.

Anything can be misused, fireworks, cars, alcohol etc etc etc, besides making things illegal or banning them does not actually work. Look at guns; after Dunblane where are we?

Exactly in the same position if not worse than we were before; the laws etc have not stopped shootings etc.  Neither have stabbings etc ceased or reduced despite the laws on carrying knives etc.

Using hand held mobile phones whilst driving is illegal, plenty of people do it, and plenty of people are maimed and killed by car drivers ignoring this law too.

I think this case is horrific, but experience and history shows that all the laws/bans in the world do not actually work that well...............

Why penalise the majority for the actions of a minority?

Um, banning handguns as a result of Dunblane was a bit of a kneejerk reaction. I can't think of another handgun incident - hardly comparable to the thousands of complaints and crimes we hear of as a result of fireworks.

Just because a law doesn't work does not mean it shouldn't be in place - toughen up on drivers using their mobiles - make the penalities harsher.

>Why penalise the majority for the actions of a minority?

Because these things are downright dangerous, even in the hands of folk who are using them properly.
I am absolutely sick, for one, of hearing fireworks for 2 weeks at 2am in the morning. I don't like fireworks - why should I have to be kept awake by them??! If my dog barked and barked continously all night I'd have the police/council on my case - yet folks can make a right row with these things, burn folk, blow up pets, put them in letterboxes and be downright annoying and get away with it cos of some ancient tradition of a criminal trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament :rolleyes:

Tohme, you are right, you have to keep things in perspective. There are about 300 children killed every year as pedestrians usually in their own neighbourhoods (that was the figure 5 years ago anyway).  Current figures are that 3,500 people are killed in road accidents every year in the UK and 40,000 are seriously injured.  Unfortunately these deaths and injuries are such an everyday common occurrence that unless it's something controversial such as police chase, they never make the media.

I absolutely hate the fact that anyone can buy fireworks. I would love to see them banned but as the popularity for them has diversified to different occasions and events i.e. religious and since the millennium New Year's Eve, I can't see that they will be.

Also, these sick people who blew up this dog are the sort who string cats to trees, pull wings off birds.  Psychopathic murderers are usually found to have been cruel to animals as children.  So in all probability these people would have found another way to mutilate the animal, fireworks just happened to be convenient at the time

Totally with you on that point Chez swa.I guess what most of us think is , if there was some sort of ban, something to help our  animals, then perhaps we might feel a bit more in control.

When you look at the bigger picture dogs' welfare is not going to be valued higher than children's.  When you have children being injured every year by fireworks (972 last year) and this doesn't have any impact on firework legislation it's unrealistic to expect the government to consider dogs.

IMO if you want to start campaigning against fireworks you would have to try and engage the majority.  Dog owners are the miniority and  are unlikely to be sympathetic about dogs so you have to play to the strengths of the argument that is children being maimed, most accidents happen at private parties or on the streets, noise pollution causing nuisance to people and animals

At a time when we are all meant to be concerned with the threat (and reality) of terrorism, why do we have explosives for sale to the general public anyway?

Because it was fireworks and mobile video phones it made sensationalist headlines, which is what sells news stories, come on our modern favourite national breed is bred for killing other dogs, no one is protesting about that, then a one off occures >>ONE nationwide, gets abused with fireworks yall shout. Must be social blindness or refusal to see or something else peculiar, not least the fact that no one seems to understand how the media on which they rely work.

I heard on the radio the other day that a 50 year old woman went into a well known shop to buy some sparklers and they would not sell them to her with showing ID with her age on and asked for her passport.

The point is that fireworks sold in shops will end up in the wrong hands and animals and children will get hurt. The governmment won't do anything about it however much we protest and we have to be vigilant and take care of our own. At this time of year, my dogs and cats do not go out when it gets dark.

These kids that blew up the poor defensless dogs are going to do much worse than this when they are older unless they are caught now. I think I read a few years ago that most kids who torture animals to this extent when they are young will go on and commit worse crimes when they are older.

The thing is that the dog was run down, the kids by coincidence had fireworks on them but what they did displayed their attitude to dogs,fireworks or mobiles were only coincidental to the attitudes, if they had no fireworks then its very  reasonable to speculate they would have used it as a football or rugby ball.

>our modern favourite national breed is bred for killing other dogs

According to the KC registration figures, the labrador is far and away the most popular breed in this country. It was certainly never bred to kill other dogs!

I mean staffs you are talking about dogs (of any breeds) registered with KC, the vast majority of staffs in the UK have no papers. I suppose they sell at different prices in different places but around £400, £500 in london, no one knows who or what KC is anyway except a minority involved with showing,let alone what papers are. The money is in the mass market not a few who show dogs, or as an analogy, race sports cars.
Rescues probably reflect some trends as the majority breed in rescues are staffs, but staffs are only a part of it, more recently cross bull breeds are increasing in popularity.

I agree with you but its going someway of the original post and staffies have been covered in depth on this forum several times.

jeanlin, you think animals being harmed with fireworks is a one-off?

"Must be social blindness or refusal to see or something else peculiar" ;-)

No I think every year fireworks come round someone will harm dogs with them, I remember dogs and cats being put to fireworks over many years, as long as I can remember in fact its happened, nothing new 'cept phones.

>"Must be social blindness or refusal to see or something else peculiar"<

I did not understand why thats pasted.

Well you said that people were reacting because of one, one-off incident and that must be social blindness etc. and I was saying that if you thought there was only one incident of this, then you must be suffering from the same!

what I meant  by social blindness is that even 100 such incidents with fireworks is nothing in the context of numbers making up the national pack and nothing at all compared far to more serious, year long, increasing welfare problems for dogs. Proportion of regulars posting here a very high precentage have some kind of hobby with dogs e.g. showing breeding and stuff.

People who have some kind of hobby with them are only a tiny, tiny minority of dog owners in the UK BUT they, like all other hobby people, ( e.g historic caravans ) group to a degree they are cut off from the average majority who have a dog (touring caravan) and simply feed it, take it for a walk and have it around the house.

I doubt if more than 0.001% of dog owners have ever been to a show and even those who have been given some kind of pedigree with a pup have never registered it with KC, what for?
I have had two pedigree papers with my last two dogs before this one and never registered them, they meant nothing to me, only the dogs did, dont know if the parents were reg or not, it was never mentioned.
So I have a social blindness to the minority hobby dog people and their perception of a dog and they have a social blindness to the average dog owner and our perception of dogs.

I cant see how cars are even mentioned in this thread, cars are essential for todays day to day living, the fact that people are hurt with them is shocking but everything is being done to try and limit this i.e. speeding cameras, breath tests and police stops, people being punished if found to be using a car dangerously etc.  Fireworks on the other hand are a thing of titilation for people, a thing they can live without.  If you take fireworks from people their whole society wont ground to a halt as it would if you did the same with cars.

I say only have fireworks at organised events so people can still enjoy them but at stated locations that people can avoid if they wish to do so.  I believe if they were banned (not that there going to be) it would limit the amount of prats that get their hands on them causing harm and misery to dogs, the elderly and children who seem to suffer most!

cars  LeanneK?

Sorry I was talking about the actual post Jeanlin didnt realise it had turned to registration???

Every year we see kids and animals maimed or killed by cars, do we ban them? (posted earlier in this thread concerning them being more dangerous than fireworks but them not being banned)

I will leave you to talk about Kc

>I have had two pedigree papers with my last two dogs before this one and never registered them

Did you breed them? If not, then you wouldn't be able to register them anyway - only the breeder can do that - and then only if the parents were themselves registered.

As for people not being interested in registration - if that were so, why are there 'the other' registries which are apparently extremely profitable? The majority of people who buy a pedigree dog, even 'just' as a pet, want some kind of registration with it. And if these pups are unregistrable with the KC there are other bodies only too willing to relieve these gullible people of their cash!

>Did you breed them? If not, then you wouldn't be able to register them anyway <

I did not and have never wanted to breed but IF the parents were registered then of course I could register a pup, you do not have to breed to own a KC reg dog, but, unless you plan on breeding or doing a bit of hobby showing then there is no point in registering a pup whose parents are regsitered, very very few people with dogs from reg parents bother paying KC to have a pups name with them, why should anyone pay for something which means nothing?

>but IF the parents were registered then of course I could register a pup,

Not so! Only the breeder can register a pup. The new owner can transfer that registration into their own name, if they want, but they can't register the pup themselves.

This is why KC registration has value, whereas 'the others', where people can register a dog with a completely fabricated background, are indeed of less use than lavatory paper.

>of course I could register a pup

No you couldn't :)

I might register my cross pup ;-)  lol

Yes your right the breeder has to register the pup and then if the buyer wants they can pay another fee and transfer the registry to themselves, so can anyone they wish to re-sell the pup to. But only a minority, very much so, would bother, what for? it does it add to the value, it cannot add to the value just KC profits.
I dont know why anyone registers any dog with anyone unless they are going to breed or show but staffs are selling like wildfire and others which are FCI and not KC registered are sold long befor they are born, staffs at around the prices I said, some others  at around £1000+ and no KC reg.

>Every year we see kids and animals maimed or killed by cars, do we ban them? <

Yes your right if we start the rout of looking for everyday dangers fireworks dont enter into it.
According to one charity 150,000 dogs were PTS because they were handed into or caught by councils lost and wandering, so what do we do, ban owners from not haveing a recall?
Certainly 150,000 dogs PTS because they got lost is much more serious then the occasional firework incident yet no one mentions it, maybe the subject should be 'total blindness' - or 'who understands serious dog issues'.

"More than 8,000 animals were injured or killed by fireworks on or shortly before or after the Day last year."

This was posted on a scottish website so I have no idea if that applies to just Scotland, or across the UK or what.  However, its certainly not an occasional firework incident!

Ah, its Scotland only, because the SSPC reported 10,000 injuries or deaths to pets and farm animals caused by fireworks in that year (I believe it was 2001).

What is the SSPC?

The Scotish figs are very high, any idea how they got them together?
Its the scotish rspca equivilent, they have no 'majesty' so they cant say royal.

I think you mean you didn't TRANSFER the registration of the dog to your name, the dog was still REGISTERED just as far as the Kennel Club knew was still the property of it's breeder.

>I wish they would ban the sale of fireworks and just have organised displays.

Personally I agree.  Organized licensed displays only. 

The SSPC website says >In 2001 a Scottish SPCA survey found that up to 8,000 animals had been treated in a twelve-month period for firework distress or injury.

That's a lot different to "injured or killed".  Don't get me wrong, I am all for a firework ban or more realistically a ban on selling fireworks to the general public but you can mislead people with surveys as seems to be happening here and that does nothing to support campaigns.

'Treated for firework distress or injury' will also include the sale of DAP diffusers, de-sensitising tapes and CDs, etc.

What's the saying - "Lies, damned lies, and statistics"?

Yes I agree spender ....actually dreading Saturday night in particular as a couple of my neighbours usually have parties on bonfire night with lots of fireworks I hate them ....always have!

This seems to have gone slightly off track from original post!!

~Roni

Thanks guys! :)

The post did somewhat go off the topic!!!!!

Anyway myself and all of my dog loving friends have written many letters to the Government against the sale of fireworks to the public.

You know it might fall on deaf ears but I'm not going to give up weather it be Dogs, Cats, Kids none of them should be subject to torture by fireworks!!!!

Hopefully they will get banned as one other posters said "we can live without them" to me they are pointless!

I got the info from here: http://www.alphavet.co.uk/fireworks.htm which does say in this case that its shortly before, on or after 5th November, and not throughout the whole year, but I am willing to believe they could be wrong.  However, it still shows that firework-related injuries in animals is not a one-off - as is also shown in the case someone posted yesterday about the Yorkie near the garage they work in.

Someone has posted a link to a petition.  The petition is asking the government for a change in the law.  It puts forward a sensible and logical argument covering people and property as well animals.  It requests how the law should be changed and doesn't ask for an outright ban but for licensed displays.

Yes treated for 'distress', many dogs distress at many other things and if fireworks are one of things just isolate them and make it look a valid statistic.
There must be hundreds of thousands bothered one way or another by them but untill its proven that it is a serious problem causeing major problems to a provable, significant number of animals there will be no more restrictions. Online petitions are not classed as valid, petitions in general are not much better only hard provable facts can do that and must be quite conclusive.
Whether people agree with a ban or not what is being dealt with here are changes in the law under the European union and if goverments change the law on unproven facts it would simply have to be repealed, we have all kinds of bans based on a few individuals ideas e.g ban chewing gum it makes a mess and cost council tax payers millions, ban hoods on coats as some people who commit crime use them, the list is endless and goverments will not change or make new laws on non proven statements.
Something I forgot, I have not seen anywhere that vets or RCVS are concerned about them enough to call for a ban.
I think if there was a queue of people at the the majority of vets in firework season, with injuries due to fireworks, they would very quickley stand up and give reasons why they should be banned, forget charities they collect money from 'emotive causes' thats how they get an income.

Jeanlin I agree with much of what you say but I do think governments bow to public pressure sometimes, look at the fox hunting bill.  I didn't know online petitions were not valid.  I don't see why this one shouldn't be as it takes your computer's ISP number and the signee's address so the names can be cross referenced and validated if need be.  Years ago in our town one of our 8 secondary schools was failing and was seriously undersubscribed.  The County Council decided to close it but some parents drew up a petition and they succeeded in keeping the school open, getting extra funding and turning the school around to be one of the more popular schools.  It all depends on your argument and how you present it.  It's no good being emotional and bleating on about how it affects 'you' because 'you' are one person in millions but if there is a logical argument backed by lots of people for lots of people surely they have to listen?