Sydney fireworks and animals: fear, flight and what we know about deaths

Sydney’s harbour fireworks raise a reasonable question: what happens to the animals around them? Research shows that fireworks can frighten pets, displace wild birds and trigger measurable physiological responses. There are also documented bird deaths overseas following fireworks.

The evidence is much thinner for a specific number of animals killed by Sydney’s display. In the published studies and public records checked for this article, we did not find a reliable Sydney Harbour bird mortality rate, or a verified study establishing how many birds drown there because of fireworks. That is a gap in the evidence, not proof that no animal is harmed.

What the different kinds of evidence can tell us

It helps to keep four questions separate: did an animal react, did it suffer distress, was it injured, and did it die? One measurement cannot automatically answer all four.

Scroll sideways, or focus the table and use arrow keys, to compare all columns.

What the Australian shorebird test observed

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service monitored a five-minute fireworks test at Manly Harbour, Queensland, on 25 August 2020.

Thermal recordings showed birds taking flight at a monitored site about two kilometres away. More distant sound recordings suggested a response too. An ebbing tide left alternative feeding areas available.

Counts 12–48 hours later showed no reduction attributable to the test, although feeding-area counts were inconclusive because of natural fluctuations and limited data. Returning numbers cannot establish that every original bird returned or escaped other costs.

One event cannot establish a universally safe distance. Tide, species, weather, habitat and firework type matter. This is evidence of a flight response, not a national death rate.

Overseas studies show more than a momentary startle

Following individual birds

Kölzsch and colleagues tracked 347 adult geese of four species across eight New Year periods in western Europe. Their movement measure was the greatest distance between a bird’s recorded locations during a night. It increased by 5–16 kilometres on average in three species on the celebration night. Pink-footed geese, the fourth species, showed no statistically significant increase in that distance.

The measure describes how far apart the bird’s night-time locations were, rather than the length of its complete flight path. Maximum nightly flight heights increased in all four species, by 40–150 metres on average, depending on species. Birds also changed roosts.

Increased feeding in the following days was consistent with compensating for disturbance. That is the researchers’ interpretation of behaviour, not a direct measurement of each bird’s energy deficit.

The setting matters: wintering migratory geese faced fireworks distributed across many European neighbourhoods. Their results cannot be converted into a death count for Australian birds around one harbour display.

Watching the whole night sky

Hoekstra and colleagues used Dutch weather radar and bird counts to investigate the New Year response. They selected a radar scan during mass takeoff, five to ten minutes after midnight on 1 January 2018. The estimated number of birds airborne per square kilometre was, on average, roughly 1,000 times the density on comparison nights.

The comparison is with a normally quiet night-time baseline. It does not mean a thousandfold increase in deaths. The study also found differences between bird communities and with distance from residential areas. Its distance estimates should not be treated as a universal boundary beyond which any display is safe.

Measuring a physiological response

A separate Austrian study recorded heart rate and body temperature in 20 free-living greylag geese. Both measures were elevated during the first two hours of New Year’s Day compared with the study’s reference periods. Some temperature differences lasted longer.

These birds belonged to a non-migratory flock accustomed to people and receiving supplementary food. The study supports a substantial physiological response even in that setting. It did not measure Sydney birds, and it did not establish that a raised heart rate means an animal is dying.

Can birds be frightened into fatal accidents?

There is evidence for fatal injuries following sudden night disturbance. A 2026 veterinary case report describes a Bulgarian event discovered on 1 January 2025. Investigators collected 1,007 dead birds and 31 live birds over two visits; six of the live birds subsequently died. Most were bramblings, with some chaffinches.

Examinations found injuries including fractures, organ damage and internal bleeding. The authors considered collisions after fireworks disturbance the most plausible explanation. They also acknowledged important limits: no direct observations of the birds during the display, incomplete information about the fireworks, and no histopathology or toxicology analysis.

This is a documented mortality event with an inferred trigger, not a controlled demonstration of every step. It concerns traumatic collisions, not drowning in Sydney Harbour. The number of birds exposed was unknown, so the collected bodies do not yield a valid mortality percentage for the whole flock, much less for another city.

Saying an animal was “frightened to death” can blur that distinction. Fear may lead to an escape attempt and a fatal collision; that does not establish that fear directly stopped its heart. The cause needs evidence from the incident and, where possible, veterinary examination.

Why we cannot give a Sydney Harbour death rate

A useful local investigation would need more than photographs of birds taking flight. It would need observations before and during the event, systematic searches afterwards, identification of affected species and assessment of causes of death. Estimating a rate would also require an estimate of the population exposed and allowance for deaths that searches miss.

Finding a dead bird in water would not, by itself, distinguish drowning from an earlier injury or another cause. Conversely, failing to find bodies is not evidence that every displaced bird survived. These are reasons to keep a harbour-specific claim open until records support it.

Two public Sydney sources help define what is available, but neither supplies that mortality estimate.

Taronga’s keeper account. In a 2018 article, Taronga reported that fireworks had not presented problems for the zoo animals described, which had access to indoor areas and were checked by staff. That is relevant experience in managed conditions. It is not a survey of free-living harbour birds, nor a systematic measurement of all physiological responses in the zoo’s animals.

The City’s environmental reporting. An August 2023 City of Sydney memo describes event emissions reporting and environmental performance information collected through the supplier’s contract review. It does not give bird casualty counts or explain a wildlife mortality-monitoring method. Carbon accounting and waste management answer different questions from whether animals are frightened or injured.

We cannot conclude from those documents that no other monitoring exists. A stronger local assessment would require the relevant monitoring results or incident records, with their methods, rather than an assumption about what an environmental management plan must contain.

Dogs: there is research from Greater Sydney

A 2024 Australian Veterinary Journal paper reports a voluntary survey conducted in 2023. Of 385 responses to its fireworks-fear question, 171—44.4%—reported a fearful dog. Those 385 responses included 37 dogs reported never to have experienced fireworks. There were 387 valid responses overall.

Owners described behaviours including seeking a person, trembling, hiding and escape attempts. The survey was recruited through the Sydney School of Veterinary Science’s Facebook page, so owners with affected dogs may have been particularly likely to respond.

These are important local welfare observations. They are not a random census, a study of the harbour display alone or a death rate. They also do not show that every dog reacts in the same way.

Cats can be frightened without making much noise

Quiet hiding should not automatically be read as comfort. A 2024 Dutch survey included 622 cats and 3,009 dogs. Cat owners commonly reported hiding and fleeing. 52 of the 622 cats—8.4%—had reportedly been lost at some point after fireworks, compared with 161 of the 3,009 dogs, or 5.4%.

That is an “ever happened” owner report, not the chance of being lost at the next display. Nor does “lost” mean the animal died. The convenience sample and retrospective reporting limit generalisation to other populations, including Australian pets.

The practical distinction is between noticing conspicuous panic and recognising quieter avoidance. A cat disappearing beneath a bed may need a secure refuge, not encouragement to come out and watch.

Have pet deaths been recorded?

An older New Zealand questionnaire study, published in 2010, included reports of injury as well as fear. Its detailed injury section records five deaths and one euthanasia among 34 animals for which treatment or outcome information was supplied.

Those were selected injury reports, not 34 randomly selected pets exposed to fireworks. The reported incidents included indirect escape injuries, accidental misuse and deliberate abuse. Combining them into a percentage would not give the mortality risk from watching a public display.

This evidence shows why fatalities should not be dismissed. It also shows why a claim such as “a certain percentage of dogs and cats die from fireworks” would be unjustified by these data.

Prepare for pets before the first bang

RSPCA Australia recommends planning early with a vet if an animal fears noise. Keep cats and dogs securely indoors during displays, with curtains closed and a comfortable place to hide. A familiar quiet room is preferable to bringing an animal into a fireworks crowd.

Arrange supervision, check doors and gates, and make sure microchip contact details are current. Let a pet use its hiding place; do not force games or contact, and do not punish fearful behaviour. Never tether a panicking dog to prevent escape.

For severe or recurring fear, discuss a treatment plan with a veterinarian ahead of the event. Medication decisions belong with the vet and the individual animal. A last-minute improvised sedative is not a substitute for that plan.

If a pet is injured or in severe distress, contact a vet promptly. Advice for domestic pets is different from approaching and handling frightened wildlife.

Wildlife protection starts with the location

City of Sydney’s sustainable-event guidance asks organisers to identify impacts including noise near breeding wildlife and artificial light near nocturnal animals, and to obtain an environmental management plan for fireworks. That is a useful planning obligation, but it is not evidence that every ecological effect has been measured.

Crowds can have separate effects. In 2024, North Sydney Council documented trampled vegetation and broken branches at Balls Head Reserve associated with New Year’s Eve visitors and announced a closure to protect the site. That was physical habitat damage from gathering for the view, not a count of animals killed by explosions. Always check current access rules rather than relying on an old event notice.

For organisers, useful questions include which species use the area, whether birds are nesting or roosting, where displaced animals could go, and how the event’s effects will be checked. Alternatives such as drone or quieter light displays also need site-specific consideration; removing explosions does not prove every remaining light or movement is harmless.

For spectators, stay in permitted viewing areas, keep away from roosts and take litter home. If you encounter injured wildlife, keep people and pets back and contact licensed wildlife help. Do not enter the harbour, chase birds or handle bats to investigate an incident. Our injured-wildlife guide explains the first steps.

For sick or dead wild birds in NSW, follow the government’s current reporting guidance: avoid contact, record the location and what you see, and report it. Do not collect or move bodies yourself. Timing alone is not enough to attribute a death to fireworks; disease and other causes also need consideration.