For the safety and wellbeing of animals, our precious environment, and human safety, we’re calling on everyone to forego letting off fireworks this Guy Fawkes.

The unpredictable nature of fireworks being let off randomly day and night is absolutely terrifying to your own and other people’s pets, animals in zoos like ours, and to manu/birds around the motu – all currently at the height of breeding season.

“Fireworks can cause terrified birds to abandon their nests, or worse, fatally injure themselves. These are species that play a key role in the health of te taiao/our natural world for the benefit of us all, so we don’t want to lose them! Here at the Zoo, we currently have endemic species like pāteke, tīeke and korimako breeding as well as many non-native species,” says our bird curator Dr Juan Cornejo.

“We’re especially asking our local communities living in closer proximity to the Zoo to not let off any fireworks over Guy Fawkes, or at any time. We always proactively plan and put measures in place to protect the kararehe/animals in our care over this period. However, it’s near impossible to fully protect them from fireworks exploding at unpredictable times day and night. And of course, we’re also concerned for other wildlife and people’s pets in the area.”

Like our colleagues at Auckland Council, the NZ Veterinary Association (who every year see horses badly injured) and SPCA, Auckland Zoo has for years been calling on the Government to ban the public sale of fireworks for private use. This would not only protect all animals throughout Aotearoa, it would also keep people safe, protect our environment and eliminate the risk of fires and their associated impacts and costs.