The Na­tion­al An­i­mal Con­trol Com­mit­tee has en­dorsed the Gov­ern­ment’s de­ci­sion to sus­pend the In­de­pen­dence Day fire­works dis­play for 2025.

Chair­man Joshua Alexan­der said the de­ci­sion brings re­lief to an­i­mal wel­fare or­gan­i­sa­tions that have raised con­cerns for years about the ef­fects of fire­works on an­i­mals. The com­mit­tee, which rep­re­sents the largest coali­tion of an­i­mal wel­fare or­ga­ni­za­tions in Trinidad and To­ba­go, stat­ed that the an­nu­al event has cre­at­ed dis­tress for an­i­mals, par­tic­u­lar­ly those at the zoo lo­cat­ed near the fire­works dis­play site.

Ac­cord­ing to the com­mit­tee, zookeep­ers are of­ten forced to se­date, se­cure, and calm an­i­mals dur­ing the ex­plo­sions. The re­lease not­ed that there have been re­peat­ed in­ci­dents of an­i­mals in­jured or killed while at­tempt­ing to es­cape the noise and con­fu­sion caused by fire­works.