Horse owner calls for East Leake firework event to be cancelled

A horse owner has called for a planned firework event to be cancelled over fears it could cause serious distress to the animals.

The display is set to be held at the ground of East Leake Bantams Football Club in Nottinghamshire on 3 November.

Jade Almazan keeps her 12 horses on a nearby field and fears they may become frightened and escape.

The football club said it had acknowledged the concerns and planned to use low-noise fireworks.

Ms Almazan runs a pony interaction service for children and adults with special needs.

Her animals live on land near the football club in Costock Road.

She said: "The bangs and crashes of fireworks are just so traumatic for the horses.

"They will spook and gallop as a herd.

"They will run through anything, it could be complete carnage."

Ms Almazan said putting the horses into stables would be worse because they were not used to them.

"They'll just kick and jump and try to get out," she said.

She also warned there were other horses in the area that were at risk of distress from the event, including 20 in another field nearby.

The parish council met to discuss the issue on Tuesday and agreed the firework display could still go ahead.

In a post on Facebook East Leake Bantams Football Club said it had received a huge amount of support for the fireworks event from residents and the wider community.

It said: "We have also noted concerns from animal owners.

"As a result we have decided that it now makes sense to invest more into this event and provide low noise fireworks for the display.

"This shows that we have done everything that we can to ensure that all concerned come and enjoy a safe thoroughly entertaining display."

Ms Almazan said the low-noise fireworks were "still pretty loud" and this did not offer her any reassurance.

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