The alarm went off on social networks. Neighbors and users of an Alicante veterinary clinic warned on Twitter and Instagram that the mascletà scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday June 10, within the program of fireworks shows prior to the Hogueras de San Juan festivities, was going to take place a few meters from the center Cabo, at the intersection of Avenida de la Costa Blanca with Calle Salabre.
Perhaps the matter would have gone unnoticed if animal organizations and councilor Rafa Mas, spokesman for CompromÃs, had not echoed and transferred the matter to the Fogueres de Sant Joan Federation, an entity that organizes the festivities and brings together all the entities that participate in it, and to the City Council itself, requesting a rectification.
In a text initially disseminated by Twitter user Iván Botella, which more than 23,000 people had seen by mid-afternoon yesterday, it was assured that near the place where the mascletà was planned to be fired “the Alicante Veterinary Emergency Hospital is located, where sick and operated animals are hospitalized”.
Finally, citizen pressure received a response, and a statement issued by the Fogueres Federation announced that when the place was chosen “they were unaware of the proximity of this 24-hour veterinary clinic and the effect that the shot could have on the animals that are there.” . But that, “once this circumstance was known, the Federation has set to work and has made all efforts to find an alternative location.”
It is by no means the first time that the negative effect of fireworks on animals has been raised. Without going any further, this same year, the managers of L’Oceanogrà fic de València showed “maximum concern” about the effects that the shots from the Fallas castles and the Nit del Foc could have on the creatures that house the installation. the City Council moved from the old riverbed to the back of the Palau de Les Arts, next to the great Valencian aquarium.
Animal groups and parties, such as Pacma, have repeatedly asked that the use of fireworks on festive dates be limited as much as possible. A report by the Association of Veterinarians Against Bullfighting and Animal Abuse noted that, according to “a trial carried out at the University of Bristol, approximately half of urban dogs suffer from some of the symptoms associated with firecracker explosions. , noting that older dogs are more likely to display fearful behavior in response to noise than younger dogs.”
Another larger study cited by the same association, in this case from the University of Oslo, “indicates that approximately 23% of the dogs analyzed reported fear of noise, and that firecrackers and fireworks are the main causes of terror, ahead of other loud noises like gunshots, thunder and traffic noise.
It so happens, in the case of Alicante, that the surroundings of the Plaza de Luceros, the area where the mascletà s of the official contest are fired, seven days in a row, at 2:00 p.m., between June 18 and 24, It is a daily meeting place for numerous dogs that their owners walk and are residents of the neighborhood. Undoubtedly, all of them added together, they will undoubtedly be more than the “clients” of the clinic in question, but the power of the party is too great for a similar transfer not even to be considered for the moment.
A few years ago, for another reason, the alleged damage caused by the pyrotechnic vibration on the fountain that presides over the square, the City Council came to announce the change of location, but after some studies it gave up and the current mayor, Luis Barcala, has always shown contrary, despite the repeated protests of some groups.
