FIREWORKS: Time to ban them all

July Fourth is fun for many humans, but it’s devastating for wildlife. It is the single most traumatic day of the year for wildlife as animals panic and flee, abandoning their nests and young, dying from shock, disorientation, exhaustion and encounters with moving vehicles or predators in their panic.

The day following July Fourth is the single busiest day of the year for wildlife rescue centers as hundreds of injured, orphaned, and abandoned animals stream through their doors.

Most of us know how our domestic animals react to the impacts of the sound and percussion produced by fireworks — have you ever considered what it must do to wild animals?

Please minimize your use of fireworks and ask your government representatives to enact practical rules for frequency, quantity, noise limits, and occasions where fireworks can be allowed. It used to be that fireworks were limited to the Fourth of July as a demonstration of patriotism. Now, they are abused and overused for multiple occasions without regard to the horrendous environmental affects it has upon our planet’s animal life.

It goes without saying that the greatest impact to all life forms is uncontrollable fires that wreak death and havoc. In this new day of increased risks of fire, we should seriously consider a moratorium on the use of anything that is combustible. And remember, we aren’t the only ones who lose our homes during a fire. Entire habitats are lost — home to dozens of species of beautiful wildlife. All it takes is a single spark to cause the devastation experienced in the West last year.

In this day and age, why on Earth are we still allowing the public and private sale and use of combustibles? What don’t we get about FIRE-works?

IRENE SMITH

Coeur d’Alene