Vets: Move Fireworks From Backyards to Licensed Public Displays

The New Zealand Veterinary Association Te Pae Kīrehe (NZVA) is urging voters to consider political parties’ views on whether private fireworks sales and use should continue, or be limited to professional use and public displays.

NZVA Chief Executive Kevin Bryant says the timing is right to revisit the debate.

Why Are Vets Raising Concerns About Fireworks?

Bryant says the issue goes beyond frightened pets. He describes “a regulatory system that has failed to adequately manage foreseeable risks to animals, people, property and emergency responders.”

The NZVA points to documented impacts including:

• Injuries to pets, livestock, horses and wildlife, some severe enough to require euthanasia.
• Animal escapes and traffic accidents
• Deaths of zoo animals
• Reports of native birds abandoning nests, as Guy Fawkes coincides with the breeding season for many species.

Bryant also notes that New Zealand has no national system for recording fireworks-related injuries, so the full annual toll is unknown.

How Are Horses Affected?

NZVA Equine Veterinarians Branch president Rob Hitchcock says horses are particularly vulnerable because of their strong flight response. Guy Fawkes coincides with peak foaling season, the show season, spring racing and yearling preparation.

He says vets attend multiple incidents each year in which horses are injured trying to bolt through fences or barriers, “not infrequently resulting in euthanasia.”

Where Does NZ's Fireworks Law Stand?

New Zealand is among a relatively small group of developed countries that still allow private sale and year-round public use of fireworks.

Earlier this year, the Government rejected a recommendation from Parliament’s Petition Committee to end private sale and use while keeping professionally managed public displays. The recommendation followed petitions signed by more than 95,000 New Zealanders.

Bryant says veterinarians, animal welfare organisations and Fire and Emergency New Zealand have made their positions clear.

What Does the NZVA Want?

The association says people can still enjoy spectacular fireworks. It wants them moved “from thousands of unpredictable private locations into licensed, professionally managed, notified public events.”

“People can’t realistically prepare their animals for fireworks going off intermittently over several days or weeks,” Bryant says.

His closing question to politicians: “Will the next government make 2026 the last year fireworks are sold to the public?”