Fourth of July fireworks may have been fun for people on the Central and South Coasts, but they once again have created major issues for some pets in the region.
A number of animal shelters are overloaded with dogs and cats which ran away from their homes after being scared by fireworks noise. Ventura County’s main shelter is swamped with runaway pets due to fireworks noise, with more than 100 dogs coming into the Camarillo facility in the last week.
Randy Friedman, with Ventura County Animal Services, says some of the runaway cases have had tragic endings, because they’ve jumped fences and ran into streets, only to be struck and killed by passing vehicles.
Friedman says with people still firing off illegal fireworks, you should keep your pets indoors with the doors and windows closed. He says it’s you’ve lost your pet, your first step should be going online to check animals at your closest shelter, and then you should go look in person.
The good news is that microchips will help get many of the runaway pets back to their owners. While most of the runaways are dogs, there are also some cats which have ended up in shelters.
