Baby red panda’s death blamed on noise stress from fireworks

LONDON — Animal campaigners are calling for a ban on the public sale of fireworks after a baby red panda was thought to have died from stress related to the noise.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), a conservation charity that runs Edinburgh Zoo, said Wednesday that it was likely Roxie, a three-month-old red panda kit, “died due to stress caused by fireworks being let off across the city centre.”

Fireworks are set off across the United Kingdom on and around Nov. 5, known as Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night, in celebration of the failure of a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament by a group of dissident Catholics in 1605.

The tradition is centuries old and unique to the U.K., with some towns creating huge elaborate effigies of Guy Fawkes to be burned — sometimes instead building models of contemporary figures, including former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

But animal rights campaigners and pet owners have long complained that the noise causes extreme distress to animals.

RZSS says the red panda’s mother also died just five days earlier and that death could also be related to fireworks noise.

“Roxie had recently lost her mum Ginger but was responding well to specialist care from our expert team and was feeding independently,” Ben Supple, RZSS deputy chief executive said in a statement.

“Very sadly, she choked on her vomit on bonfire night and our vets believe this was probably a reaction to fireworks,” Supple said.

“Roxie had access to her den but the frightening noises seem to have been too much for her. We know that fireworks can cause stress to other animals in the zoo and we cannot rule out that they may have contributed to the untimely death of Roxie’s mother Ginger, just five days’ earlier,” he continued.

A petition with more than 1.1 million signatures calling for tighter rules on the sale of fireworks — including limiting the noise levels and allowing sales only on specific dates — was delivered last week to No. 10 Downing Street, the home and private office of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Edinburgh City Council this year became the first Scottish local authority to ban fireworks in some areas, with four districts under a ban on privately-bought fireworks between Nov. 1 and Nov. 11.

Others have however gone further and called for the total sale of fireworks nationally, except for large-scale licensed public events.

“We support calls from animal welfare charities to ban the sale of fireworks to the public, with only light displays being permitted at organized events,” Supple said.

“This would help avoid devastating consequences for animals like Roxie while ensuring that people can still enjoy traditional celebrations.”