Following a December village board meeting that suggested the possible ban of fireworks in Aurora, the board continued discussions about possible regulations in a work session Tuesday.
Banning fireworks was considered at the December meeting because a local farmer blamed Wells College’s 150th anniversary firework show in October for the death of seven of her rare Icelandic sheep. Two sheep were found dead the next day, and five more deaths followed soon after.
Trinity Farm owner Margaret Flowers told the board she lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and genetic stock that she can’t get back due to changed USDA regulations. In a letter to the village she wrote that she is “one of fewer than six Icelandic breeders in the U.S. who are employing artificial insemination in their breeding programs … I have Leadersheep with the highest genetic purity outside Iceland — ninety-four percent.”
Flowers said at the meeting that research confirms that noise stress and “excessive fireworks displays” can kill sheep.
At the time, the village board expressed a desire to change the fireworks law, but was unsure how. Discussions on regulating fireworks continued when four of the five village board members met Tuesday afternoon for a work session.
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