Letters to the Editor: Stop setting off fireworks. It’s cruel to PTSD sufferers and animals

To the editor: It is important to realize with the increasing prevalence of fireworks in our cities so far out from July 4 that these devices are a nuisance not just because they are loud, but also because they can cause serious trauma to people with post-traumatic stress disorder and also to many animals.

The sound of explosions affects many people, particularly war veterans. Animals also are sensitive to the noise — one of my dogs was terrified of the booms. The Fourth of July was always a nightmare for her, so I never left her alone on that holiday.

One day of noise is difficult enough, but now people are carelessly setting off the fireworks for days on end. Hopefully they will start to be more sensitive to those who struggle with loud noises.

Debbie Cassettari, Chino Hills

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To the editor: I too have noticed the recent and constant booms, pops and screams of fireworks — daytime and evening, far away and nearby over my head. I’ve noticed signs that the noise is affecting wildlife.

For years, we in the neighborhood near the Ballona Wetlands have delighted in sights and sounds of geese flying overhead in formation, heading south at dawn and returning at sunset (we assume to roost).

That all stopped around the time the constant racket started. I wonder how it’s affecting other, less-visible wildlife in their ever-shrinking pockets of refuge.

I see people shooting stuff off down the street and in front of my home guerrilla-style. Some tell me proudly how they get them legally from other cities. What kind of tragedy will it take before the entire state bans their sale? This is an old question.

I’m sick of the noise and the crazy uncertainty of these times, and I miss the little miracle of the geese.

Becky Thaler, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Here in “no fireworks� Los Angeles, explosions have been going off until midnight almost nightly in my neighborhood for more than two months. On the Fourth of July, so many fireworks go off that the smoke forces people indoors.

These are professional-level fireworks, not the “safe and sane� type you can buy at stands in parts of Los Angeles County in July.

Clearly the firework companies and their distributors have no idea of how or when their products will be used, delighting only in the increased sales.

Patrick Mullins, Harbor City