The Fourth of July is usually a day of celebration, but a family in Lithia is still distraught because of what happened that day.
Their dog Molly panicked when she heard fireworks and ended up passing away.
“Fireworks everywhere, and big booms, not small firecrackers,” said Heidi Walters, Molly’s owner. “Just big booms everywhere.”
Walters said that set Molly off. Her son went outside to watch the fireworks, and that's when she said Molly got out, running frantically and somehow slipping through a fence in the backyard.
“From the neighbors reporting what they saw, she was just flying up and down streets everywhere,” Walters explained.
They took her to the ER vet, but by then the damage had been done. Molly suffered from heat stroke after running around in a panic, and they had to put her down.
“I was just in disbelief, because I just thought maybe she injured her paws or her foot,” Walters said. “I did not think we would lose our dog.”
Vets say, unfortunately, stories like this are common around Independence Day.
“You need to protect a dog and a cat the same way you would a small child,” Dr. Miryam Reems of BluePearl said.
Reems recommends putting your dog in a crate during fireworks or trying a product like the ThunderShirt.
Walters hopes no other dog owner has to go through what she did, just because of fireworks.
“I understand some people like the booms, but is it really necessary to protect a life of a pet, of a person going through stress and panic?” she questioned.
Walters would like to see her neighborhood create a designated area for fireworks, or require fireworks that don’t make noise. Quiet fireworks are becoming more popular in parts of Europe.
