00:00A step in the right direction, but not quite far enough.
00:04This is the view of animal rights activists in response to government's announcement
00:09to only allow members of the public to use silent fireworks this Independence Day.
00:15First of all, there's nothing really like silent fireworks.
00:19It may be silent to us, human beings, because our hearing is not, you know,
00:25as, what I should say, as sensitive as the animals.
00:31But the dogs still do hear the silent fireworks.
00:36So it's not all that silent.
00:38Ms. Dial further notes that fireworks pose risks not only to animals,
00:43but also to people and property.
00:46Well, we've had the instances where, you know, houses burned down
00:49and people lost things and so on.
00:52But not only that, every year, but it's maybe not carried in the news.
00:58But there are people injuring themselves, you know, their hands and so on
01:04get, you know, injured from certain of the fireworks
01:07and they go to the hospitals for treatment.
01:11So it is a very unsafe thing.
01:14A lot of people using this to around children.
01:17Is it in a controlled situation?
01:22Is somebody there, an expert in, you know, setting it off
01:25and, you know, all the dangers are related to it?
01:29It looks like fun, but it's a serious thing.
01:32She's calling on the government to go the full distance
01:35and implement an outright ban,
01:38given that every year members of the public set off the explosives
01:41without securing the requisite permits.
01:45And I call the police every year.
01:47I have to call the police.
01:49And they can't come.
01:50They will tell you flat.
01:52It's all over.
01:53They don't have police to come out.
01:56They don't have a vehicle.
01:57It can't be controlled.
02:00It cannot be controlled.
02:01And that is why we have been saying
02:03if you can't control it,
02:05then you need to ban it.
02:08Because people are not obeying the law
02:10and the police can't enforce the law.
02:13So what is the use of the law?
02:15The Trinidad and Tobago Society
02:17for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
02:19is stressing that fireworks should only be used
02:22in controlled official settings.
02:24What we had actually been calling for over the years
02:28is to remove the handling of fireworks by the public.
02:34And, you know, so that take the fireworks
02:37out of the hands of the public
02:38and just retain fireworks for public displays
02:43that should be silent fireworks
02:46or hopefully go in the direction of, you know,
02:50light displays and so on.
02:52We don't think they can be controlled
02:55in the hands of the public.
02:57We recognize that people do like
02:59firework displays or light shows.
03:03And in many countries,
03:04they're going in the direction of light shows.
03:06And we have a lot of talented people
03:08who are capable of doing wonderful
03:10modern light shows.
03:13So we really, you know,
03:14would encourage the government
03:16to go in that direction
03:19rather than to even continue
03:21with fireworks displays.
03:23Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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