KEY POINTS:
The Royal New Zealand SPCA wants the next government to ban fireworks and end the "carnage" after a horse died as the result of a firework-related incident last week.
The horse was severely wounded and had to be euthanised after being spooked by fireworks set off near the Te Atatu Pony Club, in West Auckland on Labour Day.
The horse was found the next morning with crushed facial bones, seven shoulder fractures, a shattered elbow and internal bleeding in the head.
SPCA chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said the incident reinforced the society's call for a ban on private fireworks sales.
"We hope that whoever forms the government after this weekend's election will have the fortitude and sense to ban firework sales for private use and will do so early on in the life of the new parliament."
She said the 23 other horses in the paddock also showed signs of being frightened by the fireworks which were believed to have been set off to deliberately terrify the horses.
The incident occurred before fireworks went on sale and Ms Kippenberger said they were likely hoarded from the previous year.
"Fireworks are responsible for spooking, injuring and often killing a wide range of animal victims, including members of domestic, farm, wild and native species, whilst also destroying native habitats ... it's about time this carnage stopped."
Last year, a 17-year-old Northland man had to undergo surgery to reattach fingers and a hand that were partially severed while he was holding a sparkler bomb in his hand.
During the same Guy Fawkes period, one-year-old Mercedez Harrison, of Tauranga, received burns to 8 per cent of her body when a firework exploded at her home. She underwent skin grafts to her lower back and buttocks in Waikato Hospital.
At the time Progressive Enterprises announced it would stop selling fireworks in its Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown outlets.
And Prime Minister Helen Clark said cases like that of a Mercedez Harrison were distressing.
"At some point, public tolerance for this will boil right over."
And National leader John Key said last year he believed a ban was inevitable.
Guy Fawkes was quieter than expected last year.
While it was a busier than usual Monday night for the fire service, the fireworks mayhem of 2006 was not repeated, despite several fireworks related house fires.
- NZPA
