Fear of fireworks: Animal shelter takes in 57 pets over Fourth of July weekend

While most locals were excited to hear fireworks begin Sunday night ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, the loud blasts marked the beginning of days of searching by families whose dogs ran away after being spooked by the noise.

The booming holiday is one of the most dangerous weekends for local pets, according to Animal Services Deputy Director Crystal Eskola.

Melanie Joiner Denman said her grandson’s three-year-old chihuahua, “Stark,” who she referred to as her granddog, ran away from her Warrenville home around 8:30 p.m. Sunday night while her daughter was visiting for the holiday.

“Fireworks started going off really loud in the back of the neighborhood – he was here and then a minute later, he was gone,” Denman said. “With children coming in and out of the house, he must have slipped out.”

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Eskola said fireworks set off in neighborhoods are just as dangerous as a large firework event.

"They're just as scary to your pet," she said.

Denman said her daughter made posters to hang up near the area Stark went missing.

“When she was writing them out she was crying, just pouring tears,” she said. “We never imagined this would happen.”

After searching all day Monday and after work on Tuesday and Wednesday, Denman said they still haven’t found Stark.

“He's friendly, that's the bad thing,” Denman said. “I hope somebody hasn't taken him.”

Stark has been microchipped and the family is hoping he will turn up at a local shelter.

“We haven't given up,” Denman said. “My daughter has gone to the SPCA in Aiken County and the local pounds to look at the dogs that have been brought in so far.”

The Denmans aren't the only residents whose pet went missing over the holiday weekend. Augusta Animal Services took in 57 pets, Columbia County Animal Services took in four, and FOTAS in Aiken County took in 96.

"The fireworks really took a toll on us," said Bobby Arthurs, Aiken County chief enforcement officer and shelter manager. "Some of the animals were claimed, but a lot weren't. We're so full, we're starting to double up."

Arthurs said FOTAS is starting to waive adoption fees to create space in the shelter.

"It's a huge burden on us," he said. "It's very stressful on every worker and every animal here at the shelter because we're just so overcrowded."

Rachel Richardson, owner of 6-month-old "Chopper," who went missing in Augusta around 7 p.m. on Monday, said a number of factors played into her dog's anxiety on the holiday.

"He was panicking because it was storming that day, and then the fireworks started going off," Richardson said.

She said she wishes she knew more about the impact fireworks can have on dogs.

"I wish there would have been more warnings or notices about how to handle your pet on the Fourth of July because that is something we did not even think about with him," Richardson said.

About 45% of dogs have a fear of fireworks, according to a study published in the Applied Animal Behaviour Science journal. Ahead of the holiday, Columbia County Animal Services posted a graphic with fireworks safety tips for pets on its Facebook page. Some of the tips included keeping pets inside, giving them a safe place to hide, updating their IDs and microchips and using ambient noise to mask the loud and unpredictable sounds.

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Chopper was found by a neighbor just before 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon near the trail on Lewisville Road.

Unlike other weekends throughout the year, Eskola said, many of the animals that came in this week appear to be well-loved pets, not strays..

"They have collars on, we know they're somebody's pets," she said. "It's awful, it truly is. We had 21 dogs come in yesterday."

Animal services predicts more pets that escaped during the holiday weekend will trickle in this week as they are found.

"People are still finding them and bringing them in," Eskola said. "Unless it was a injured or aggressive stray that somebody found over the weekend, we would not have gone and picked it up. So, I do expect that number to go up."

'You've got to prove it's yours'

One of the main issues with reuniting the animals with their owners is that most of the dogs that come in are not microchipped, according to Eskola. Another issue is that owners do not have documentation proving the animal is theirs.

"One thing that we find is people don't have current documentation or verification of what their pet looks like," she said. "When you come to claim a pet, you've got to prove it's yours. What we're running across is that a lot of times people don't have a picture of their pet. The dogs have collars on, but there's no ID or phone number written on the collar."

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When animals come in to animal services, they are placed on a five-day stray hold. After the fifth business day, the animal becomes the City of Augusta's property.

"The five business days do not include Saturday or Sunday," Eskola said. "For instance, the fourth was a holiday, so it doesn't count either – so they have plenty of time to come looking for their pet."

Few animals have been claimed

Animal services said that out of the 57 pets picked up over the weekend, only two had been claimed by their owners. One pet was picked up on Tuesday and another was picked up on Wednesday.

"We had a dog recently that came in and he still had a leash attached to him," Eskola said. "But nobody came looking for him. Dogs will come in with jackets, sweaters, bandanas around their necks, painted nails, cute little haircuts – and it's quite sad when nobody comes looking for them."

Lost pets picked up by Augusta Animal Services are added to a database called 24Petconnect.com. Using the website, owners can look for their lost pet and filter through entries from surrounding shelters in the area. Augusta Animal Services can also be reached at (706) 790-6836.

Phone messages left with FOTAS Aiken seeking information on animal intake numbers during the holiday weekend have not been returned.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: 57 animals taken in by Augusta animal control over July 4th weekend