A crescendo of deafening explosions accompanied by flashing lights shooting high into the night sky panicked terrified animals. The noise was loud enough to wake sleepers over five kilometres away. Jan Thomson was one of many local horse owners up late into the night.

“There were a lot of exhausted and traumatised animals (and owners) as a result of somebody’s evening of ‘fun’,” she says. “People were out in the dark trying to find and secure their horses, cattle stampeded through hot wires, dogs and cats fled.”

Jan’s no killjoy – she’s prepared to put up with November 5 fireworks.

“We can plan for that one day in the year and arrange to keep our animals in a safe place. But fireworks are becoming the new way to celebrate, be it births, weddings, or any other occasion. The bigger the bang, the better as far as many people are concerned.”

Jan says current regulations seem inadequate to restrict fireworks displays and she is dreading New Year’s Eve. “We hesitate to go away on holiday in case some idiot decides to let off a few bangers that might cause our animals to get injured,” she says. “For the animals’ sake, we need to stop random fireworks displays.”

With others, Jan plans to approach her local MP to take the fireworks problem back where it all started – to Parliament.