With the New Year fast approaching, an animal rights and welfare group and an environmental group joined forces on Saturday to remind Filipinos on how they could do their share in making the celebration of the coming year lucky and enjoyable for their pets.

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and EcoWaste Coalition said that the public should show mercy to animals which are silently suffering from all the noise coming from the firecrackers and fireworks being lit during the New Year revelry.

“Our four-legged friends, particularly cats and dogs, suffer in silence as firecrackers and fireworks of varying intensity are ignited in the belief that such practice can shoo away bad luck and pull in good energy and fortune,” PAWS Executive Director Anna Cabrera said.

“Cats and dogs are specially gifted with acute sense of hearing. Pyrotechnic explosions can cause acoustic trauma to animals that humans often take no notice of,” she added.

The animal rights and welfare group said that pets could likely suffer from appetite loss, upset stomach and confused sense of direction due to the deafening noise.

READ: Why animals do not make good Christmas gifts

EcoWaste coalition Coordinator Aileen Lucero asked the public not to use firecrackers and fireworks as these are “damaging to human, animal and ecosystem health.”

The groups then shared how the public can make the New Year celebration less traumatic for cats and dogs:

1. Persuade members of your household to make your home a “no firecracker”
zone.

2. Politely tell your neighbors not to light or throw firecrackers near your home.

3. Exercise your pets during the days leading up to the New Year’s Eve and
in the next morning when the festivities are over and the smoke has cleared.

4. Give your pets a physical outlet for their pent up energy due to arousal
and stress.

5. Manage the environment so it is as relaxing as possible and
as less stressful as you can make it.

6. Provide your pet with a safe place to take temporary refuge. If
possible, allow your pet to stay in a quiet room such as a bedroom.

7. Close the windows, put the curtains down and play a relaxing music to
neutralize the noise from the outside to help your pets feel secure.

8. Ensure your pet’s access to drinking water. Make her/him pee or poo.

9. Do not yell or laugh at your pet when she/he is cowering or shaking in
fear. This is a natural response to a threat that they do not understand
and cannot avoid. CDG

READ: Pet-friendly campuses? Arf, arf to that!