Budgie drops dead on devastated owner's shoulder when firework goes off outside
A budgie owner is devastated after her beloved bird "dropped dead" on her shoulder after a loud firework went off outside.
Pamela Dungey, who lives on her own and is disabled, tried to do CPR on her "best friend" named Mr Tom after he collapsed on Saturday evening, but tragically he passed away. Now she wants others to know the danger fireworks can pose to animals, and is calling for the sale of loud pyrotechnics to be banned.
Pamela, who lives beside the beach at The Knap in the Vale of Glamorgan, said: “One minute he was having a fuss on my shoulder and he was pecking my cheek and the next this almighty bang exploded outside and he just fell. I caught him in my hand. I was in total shock. I tried to do CPR but he’d gone.
Pamela Dungey with her "best friend", budgie Mr Tom“There was no warning. I just held him and cried. And then got really angry and I’m still angry. I’m distraught. I had a granddad who had a budgie for 17 years. It is senseless that an animal’s life has been cut so short for someone to have had two minutes of fun.”
Pamela told Wales Online the position of her home means fireworks set off at the beach below explode beside her window. “Saturday was like a bomb had gone off,” she recalled. “They let it off at the beach and it was so big. It exploded right outside my house.”
Teen 'kept as slave, starved and beaten' sues adoptive parents and authorities
Pamela, who documented her life with Mr Tom to her followers on Facebook, posted a video to her page informing people of his sudden passing. “People need to know what can happen to our animals when you set off these fireworks, which seem to get louder every year,” she said. “The reaction I’ve had to the video has been incredible but so distressing. One woman contacted me who said she’s lost two of her birds due to fireworks. And it’s not just birds, it’s cats, dogs, horses - they go through terrible torture every year.
“I’m not against fireworks in their entirety, but what I am against is individual people buying fireworks and setting them off themselves with no care for others. They should either be quiet fireworks or they should be confined to community displays and events which are properly run with care of animals in mind.”
In Wales 14 local authorities have introduced RSPCA-endorsed rules and policies aimed at keeping animals safer during the days around bonfire night. Measures adopted include public awareness campaigns about the impact of fireworks on animals and ensuring all displays on council land are advertised far in advance so pet owners can take precautions. The sale of quieter and low-noise fireworks in these areas have also been promoted to businesses.
Pamela is calling for a ban on shops selling fireworks unless they are low-noise explosives. She said: “A lot of teens come to The Knap, and this happens often, by the way, not just around bonfire night. But this firework on Saturday was like nothing I’d ever heard before. It’s not like when I was a child where it was one night of the year, now it goes on for days. It’s so unfair.”
A new RSPCA UK-wide poll has recently suggested that more than three in four (76%) adults think the UK government should limit days on which fireworks can be let off around bonfire night. The poll also suggested 69% agreed that the UK government should limit the sale of fireworks, and 73% think firework control zones should be introduced.
Pamela explained how she hopes sharing her experience can help force a change in the law. “Mr Tom and I had an incredible bond,” she added. “He gave me as much love as I gave him. I’m housebound, I’m disabled and now I’m alone.
“We had a routine every day. Every morning we’d wake up at 5am and I’d have to get up and pretend to go and open the front door with him. I woke up this morning at 5am and he wasn’t there. Some people might think that’s not the end of the world, but to me he was as important as any other pet. Everyone who knows me knows Mr Tom.
“I can’t just go and get another budgie. I’m terrified to get another budgie now, because of what happens next year. I don’t want to put myself through this again. I’ve been in a terrible state. Mr Tom has paid the price of someone else having two minutes of fun. It’s not fair.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
