A woman says her horse suffered a "horrific painful death" after fireworks led to her bolting through a solid wooden fence. Joanna Barnett's horse Tallulah was put down as her injuries could not be helped with veterinary painkillers after the fireworks on New Year's Eve.
Tallulah was spooked by loud noises and bolted through a fence. Police closed off the road where Tallulah collapsed with multiple injuries. A vet helped revive Tallulah and she was returned to her field, but she continued to worsen through New Year's Day.
Joanna told SurreyLive: "She was shaking, dripping with sweat, falling over, and showing a heart rate of 120." Joanna had had Talullah for 18 years.
Joanna Barnett had owned her horse for 18 years. (Image: Andy and Joanna Barnett)
Joanna said: "I've got neighbours that have to sedate their horses and give them drugs to calm them and keep them safe. But in this instance, they have been off on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, about three days in between Christmas and New Year, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, ranging from about nine o'clock in the evening, and I was told they'd still been going on til one o'clock in the morning. I think it's just got out of hand really."
Joanna wants the law around fireworks to be changed. She said: "You can't buy three packets of paracetamol but you can buy a packet of explosives in the shop. That just blows my mind.
"I think that does really need to be looked at again and changed. The laws that are in place aren't good enough to give the police confidence to protect animals and livestock.
"In this day and age, I think humanity can do better than this. We know they cause suffering we've had literally thousands of messages.
"It's restored my faith in humanity, I've had thousands and thousands of messages directly via social media, messages with support love, and care, and many of them have lost animals, I've had a message from a veterinary of nine years in Afghanistan who's terrified of fireworks, can't bare them, hates them, his dogs hate them."
She added: "Tallulah suffered horrifically, I saw it with my own eyes. She was in so much pain that veterinary painkillers didn't stop it. Her rate was 120, she was so shocked and broken that she was falling over." Joanna is encouraging people to write to their local MP to ask for changes in the way that fireworks are distributed in the UK. She says that she does not want any more animals and pet owners to have to go through this type of experience again.
