Animal charity which 'had to put down three horses spooked by bangs' calls for quieter fireworks
Redwings Horse Sanctuary has led calls for quieter fireworks, as Natalie Gray reports for ITV News Anglia
An animal charity has revealed it had to put down three horses after they were spooked by fireworks.
Redwings Horse Sanctuary in Norfolk has launched a petition calling for quieter fireworks, following years of witnessing distress and injury among their animals, which has gathered more than 100,000 signatures.
When alarmed by loud bangs, horses can react by galloping relentlessly, resulting in accidents and injuries.
Two of the horses had to be put down after they sustained soft tissue trauma from charging around, and another developed coli, an illness caused by stress, said Redwings.
Helen Whitelegg, a campaign and policy manager at Redwings Horse Sanctuary in Hapton, is pleading for the government to reduce the maximum volume of fireworks from 120 to 90 decibels.
The petition has since been signed by more than 100,000 people, including actor and writer Sir Stephen Fry and TV personality Olivia Bowen.
Ms Whitelegg said: “One of the horses we lost had arrived here completely emaciated.
“We nursed her back to health, got her through, gave her the life she deserved.
“And knowing she died in pain, terrified by the noise, it’s heartbreaking.”
Redwings also released footage of some of its Shetland ponies, clearly in a terrified state as they react to the lights and noise of fireworks.
Ms Whitelegg added: "It may only be one or two horses in a group that are frightened but because of their very strong herd instinct, if one horse in a group is really frightened and starts to run, the group instinct is then to stick together.
"They tend to keep running - literally until they're injured, ill, exhausted and that can obviously have a lot of physical impacts on top of the psychological problems that the distress has initially caused."
Meanwhile, fellow charity Dogs Trust, is also calling on the government to review fireworks legislation.
Bosses there said that their research shows that two-thirds of Britons want tighter controls due to the distress they cause to pets.
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