The first chain of stores in the Czech Republic eliminated the sale of pyrotechnics | PRAGUE | News
Fireworks, Roman candles, volcanoes, but maybe also bouncy balls or sparklers. 21 types of fireworks are disappearing once and for all from the shelves of the Billa chain. The company made the announcement on World Animal Day.
The demand for fireworks is high in the Czech Republic and is naturally the highest around Christmas and New Year. According to the estimate of the Czech Association of Nature Conservators, annual sales amount to one billion crowns.
Animal rights activists have been opposing pyrotechnics for a long time. More than half of Czechs live with pets, which suffer from panic and psychological trauma during the annual New Year celebrations.
Some pets can be helped by human presence. But wildlife also experiences traumatic moments during a few minutes of celebration. Their rescuers know about it.
More than half of the injured animals are eventually returned to the wild after treatment by rescuers. However, in extremely stressful situations such as those created by explosions, it often ends worse. This swan was unlucky, for example, two years ago, during the New Year’s fireworks in Prague, it ran into a tram line in a panic.
Specifically, hundreds of animals are injured each year due to careless handling of pyrotechnics. For the operation of the rescue stations, which then take care of them in Billa. The operation of these stations in the Czech Republic costs approximately 70 million crowns annually.