Beaver death sparks fear over festive fireworks

“Setting off fireworks is not only incredibly bad for the environment, it is also incredibly unsettling for animals,” Hubert Weiger from the Nature Protection Society said on Monday.

While he said he had every sympathy for people wanting to celebrate the New Year”, Weiger advised people “not to waste your money on fireworks.”

Saying that people would be better donating their money to refugees, the animals rights activist said “there are already enough explosions in the world”.

A speaker for the Bavarian Forest National Park also called on visitors not to set off firecrackers, saying that animals in the higher regions of the reserve are sensitive to loud noises and would panic at the sudden explosions.

The calls came after a six-month-old beaver was killed on the outskirts of Berlin at the weekend when a group of children threw a firecracker into a pond.

The protected animal’s eardrum was perforated by the underwater explosion and it then drowned after suffering from shock, the Nature Protection Society said.

Firecrackers and fireworks are popular during the festive season, and especially during New Year it has become common practice for young people to set them off.

In the wake of the Paris terror attacks a leading Green politician called for a ban on more powerful firecrackers, so as not to alarm a public already worried about possible terrorist attacks.