RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

An­i­mal wel­fare ad­vo­cates are prepar­ing to mon­i­tor fire­works ac­tiv­i­ty and re­spond to dis­tressed an­i­mals dur­ing Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions, amid con­cerns that loud ex­plo­sions could cause pets to pan­ic and flee their homes.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, vice-pres­i­dent of An­i­mals Alive Jow­elle De Souza said she and a net­work of an­i­mal res­cuers would be on the look­out for dogs that be­come dis­ori­ent­ed and es­cape as fire­works are set off.

De Souza urged pet own­ers to take pre­cau­tions to pro­tect their an­i­mals, warn­ing that every year the or­gan­i­sa­tion has to help re­unite miss­ing pets with their own­ers fol­low­ing Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions.

“Make sure that you se­cure your pets be­cause every year for Di­vali, we al­ways have to go res­cu­ing peo­ple’s pets be­cause when these fire­works start, they pan­ic, they get away,” she said.

She rec­om­mend­ed that own­ers keep their pets in a se­cure room, with mu­sic or tele­vi­sion play­ing to help dis­tract them from the noise.

She called on the po­lice to take a more proac­tive ap­proach in mon­i­tor­ing fire­works use and en­sur­ing that those who breach the law are held ac­count­able.

De Souza said she would now be pay­ing clos­er at­ten­tion to fire­works ac­tiv­i­ty and re­port­ing sus­pect­ed breach­es.

She ex­plained that on Di­vali night, she and oth­er res­cuers reg­u­lar­ly move around the Palmiste area, col­lect­ing dogs found wan­der­ing along the road­way af­ter be­ing fright­ened by fire­works.

The an­i­mals are tem­porar­i­ly shel­tered while pho­tographs and in­for­ma­tion are cir­cu­lat­ed on Face­book and com­mu­ni­ty groups to help lo­cate their own­ers.

Mean­while, an­i­mal rights ac­tivist Nali­ni Di­al said there may not be suf­fi­cient man­pow­er to en­force the fire­works laws. She urged pet own­ers to keep their an­i­mals safe. She al­so said Di­vali should be a time for peace­ful re­flec­tion rather than loud cel­e­bra­tion.

“In Trinidad, peo­ple do not obey the law, and the po­lice don’t en­force the law. That is why re­spon­si­ble pet own­ers must take pre­cau­tions with their pets and keep them safe,” she said.

Un­der Trinidad and To­ba­go’s Sum­ma­ry Of­fences (Amend­ment) Act, 2025, fire­works may be dis­charged with­out a per­mit on pub­lic hol­i­days on­ly be­tween 8 pm and 9 pm.

The leg­is­la­tion pro­hibits the dis­charge of fire­works in, on or on­to any house, ve­hi­cle or street, or in a man­ner that cre­ates dan­ger, a nui­sance or an un­safe sit­u­a­tion for peo­ple or prop­er­ty.

Peo­ple who breach the fire­works reg­u­la­tions can face a fixed penal­ty of $450.