WATCH: A Cowichan Valley horse owner is asking those discharging fireworks this Halloween season to be mindful of animals. Her daughter’s foal got spooked Sunday and ran into the field’s electric fence. Kendall Hanson reports.
The peace has returned to this Holiday Lane property.
But early Sunday morning, this five-month-old foal suffered quite the Halloween scare.
“About three o’clock in the morning the people that just live behind me in the cabin here said they did hear the horses galloping around,” said horse owner Michelle Ince. “Like really galloping around.”
When Ince arrived at the field later Sunday morning, the young foal, named Amber, was having trouble walking.
Her leg is still swollen and there are cuts on her one side of her neck.
Ince immediately thought she must have been startled.
“She’s all cut up with barbed wire so obviously she became so spooked that hit the fence.”
Her foal’s hair is still on the electric barbed wire fence.
In the corner of the field, she found the remains of a firecracker.
“I think what happened is someone just tossed one of those screamers into the horse’s paddock at the far end corner,” Ince said.
She filed a report with the RCMP and she’s asking people setting off firecrackers to aware of their surroundings.
“Use common sense,” said Ince. “Know that there are some horses right here and maybe go to a safe place where there are no animals around to set your firecrackers off.”
North Cowichan’s mayor says the municipality gets complaints about fireworks around Halloween every year.
“Generally the complaints seem to be related to the unauthorized use of fireworks,” said Mayor Jon Lefebure.
And possessing fireworks or setting off fireworks without a permit, or after 10 p.m., could meet a $200 fine.
“Fireworks are not allowed to be sold in North Cowichan and they’re not allowed to be set off except by permit,” said Lefebure.
Ince says she’s going to keep her horses in the barn for the foreseeable future. Something she says is not fair for the horses but in light of the firecrackers is something she needs to do to keep her horses safe.
Kendall Hanson
