As on every Diwali, the Bombay Society of Prevention Against Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) Hospital saw animals and birds being brought in from across the city with burn injuries, respiratory breakdown or stress.

The hospital is now treating four stray dogs, two cats with first degree burns, about 25-30 pigeons and two kites that reportedly collapsed due to the high toxicity in the air, BSPCA secretary (Retd) Lt Colonel Dr J C Khanna said.

“While the burns are not major and only seem to have affected the dermis, all the animals had suffered stress. Loud noise causes severe trauma in animals and in many cases, treatment is difficult,” he said. One such instance was a pet dog found in a nervous condition on a busy road. It was brought to the hospital on Sunday. “The dog, a well-behaved, purebred Pomeranian seems to have suffered a nervous attack and run away from home. It must have lost its way in the confusion,” Khanna said.

City vets said while air/ noise pollution irritates human beings and causes minor health problems, animals face serious anxiety often leading to temporary mental imbalance. “Noise is especially heard in an amplified form in animals like dogs and cats. So a cracker of 100 decibel will sound twice as intense,” a vet said. Among the animals admitted to the hospital, most were affected in areas were ‘series bombs, like 11,000 series, and 500 series, were burst, Khanna said. He added, “Dogs and cats with burns can be treated. However birds have been displaying symptoms of respiratory breakdown. Birds come in close contact with the air and are directly affected. The toxicity in air seems to have given them brain imbalance. We are treating them but it is doubtful they’ll recover fully.” — Nitya Kaushik