GREAT FALLS — The day after Independence Day is a busy day for animal shelters nationwide while they work to reunite runaway pets frightened by fireworks.
Loud noises from fireworks celebrations provoke anxiety and stress in pets, so it’s important to take the necessary precautions.
Even if your pet doesn’t mind the noise of the celebration, there is a chance they could become startled or even try to chase after a stray firecracker.
“The Fourth of July is one of the busiest days for the animal shelter pretty much every year, and several days leading up to it, actually, because people start shooting off fireworks usually around the second or third," Great Falls Animal Shelter Director of Operations Laramie Smovir explained.
"You're going to see animals will start getting more agitated as they're starting to hear the loud booms and the bangs, all of that sort of stuff," Smovir continued. "So it gets pretty busy. Usually, the animals that come in get reclaimed by their owners fairly quickly, but there's lots of things that owners can do to prevent their animals from coming in in the first place.”
If keeping your pet inside during the celebration, consider keeping them in a room away from windows, and put on some white noise like a radio or TV to drown out the noise and lessen their anxiety.
“If your animal is fine with the bangs in the booms and they're going to do better with you out in the park, absolutely," Smovir explains. "Take them with you, but make sure that you've taken those precautions so that they're going to be safe, that they're wearing a collar, that they're on a leash, that they're microchipped just in case something were to happen.”
If you haven’t microchipped your pet, make sure you have some information either on their collar tags or take a sharpie and write your information on the inside of their collar. If your animal is already microchipped, make sure the contact information is up to date.
