This Diwali and the one last year have been less traumatic for pets, several pet owners in Kolkata said before the Diwali night entered the tricky hours.
Last year, the city had an unusually quiet Diwali. This Diwali was louder than 2020 but the noise was less compared with pre-pandemic years.
This year the Supreme Court only allowed bursting of green firecrackers, from 8pm to 10pm. The order was, however, violated across the city and its adjoining areas.
Noise from firecrackers scare animals and subject them to severe trauma and shock.
This newspaper spoke to many pet owners in the city, particularly in areas like Lake Town, Dum Dum Park and New Town, which are known for noise norm violation.
K.K. Basu Roy, a member of the executive committee of several clubs under the Kennel Club of India (KCI), said the sensitivity and awareness level of people have gone up, referring to fewer violations of the cracker ban this year and last year compared with the pre-pandemic Diwali.
Talking about previous years, he said rampant bursting of crackers would scare away animals on the streets even during the run-up to Diwali.
“The noise shocks animals. This year it was not so,” said Roy.
Hazra resident Radhika Bose, who has guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, cats and ducks at her home, said pets as well as street dogs and cats had a relatively easier time this Diwali till the evening.
“The court order and the police vigil have made Diwali less traumatic for animals. In our area the police enforced the court order very strictly. The police also seized banned crackers before Diwali, so there is an enforced sensitivity among people,” said Bose, who runs a pet club for children at home.
Though what Basu Roy and Bose said were the general feedback from pet parents, there were a few complaints as well.
Nabonita Bose Mukherjee, a Salt Lake resident who has a five-year-old Labrador Retriever, said her pet was disturbed by the noise of firecrackers that were being burst in the adjacent Duttabad area.
“She was so petrified that she started trembling. But compared with pre-pandemic times, the intensity and frequency of the violation came down,” said Mukherjee.
Arkaprava Bhar, who works for the Humane Society International, an NGO that works for animals, said the ban helped keep the noise levels in check. “Earlier, we would get a lot of frantic calls from traumatised pet owners seeking help. But this year it was not so,” he said.
While there were several complaints of bursting of noisy crackers from places in Rajarhat, large parts of New Town remained largely quiet. Large parts of Salt Lake, too, saw a quieter Diwali.