Letter to the Editor: Fireworks

July 5, 2022

To the Editor,

When living in Northern Michigan several years ago, my husband and I responded to a notice in our local newspaper of a German short-haired pointer dog that went missing during a family outing at a nearby lake to watch fireworks on the 4th of July. We decided to take a turn for the search. After a little more than a week the dog showed up at a cottage, hungry and scared. This was an important issue to us because we had a dog that was the same breed.

Now, I live in Woodhill Senior Apartments that is halfway between Carr Park and a business where trucks of all sizes sit when they’re not in use. Also surrounding Woodhill Apartments is something like a wildlife refuge. Sunday evening, July 3, both sides of Woodhill Apartments had a fireworks display. Quite a few people who live here care a lot for wildlife and put out bird feeders on their patio area.

I take care of a 13-year-old feral cat who is the last of a litter that was born here. He spends a lot of time inside my apartment in the winter but not in the summer. Ever since Sunday evening he has spent hours inside my apartment every day. On my patio and my neighbors’ we watch birds and squirrels all day long. Ever since Sunday evening there are none. Even as I write this on Monday, residents here found the grounds surrounding Woodhill Apartments covered with ash and pieces of 4“x4“ cardboard debris that fell thru the trees. This is now an environmental issue. At least one confirmed piece of hot ash debris fell on a vehicle so it now has become destructive. A police report was made.

“Fireworks“

1. Explode like magnified gunfire in the exquisitely tuned ears of all creatures.
2. Birds have panic attacks causing mass deaths.
3. Bees have become so disoriented they don’t go back to their hives.
4. Wild animals raising babies abandon their dens in fear.
5. Fish and other animals perish after ingesting firework debris.
6. Companion animals have anxiety and panic attacks.
7. Humans have PTSD.

“To all those who have set off fireworks“

Go to your nearest veterinary clinic, animal shelter, wildlife rehab center, pet crematorium, or municipal street-cleansing department. Your help is needed with pain, suffering, trauma accidents, deaths that you have caused. The least you can do is help.

I could also smell the ash through my closed patio door. Additional information; until the ash dissolves into the ground, the birds will ingest it while pecking for worms.

Rose Austin
Manchester, MI

Views expressed in any Letter to the Editor are always exclusively those of the author. Do you have something you want Manchester to know? Send your Letter to the Editor to themanchestermirror@gmail.com.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.