Animal welfare campaigners are calling for the regulations on the sale of fireworks to be tightened.

A survey by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) found that last year vets treated 8,000 animals suffering from the effects of fireworks.

The society has organised a demonstration in Edinburgh, on Tuesday, to persuade politicians in the Scottish Parliament and at Westminster to act.

The SSPCA said fireworks were a growing hazard for animals.

Deliberate attacks

Last year a whole aviary of birds at Cowdenbeath died of shock during a firework display.

In Kilmarnock a collie dog bolted and was run over by a car. There are also deliberate attacks on animals with fireworks.

In Rosyth a family of six mallard ducks died, and in Glasgow a kitten was killed when a firework was dropped through the letterbox of a house in the Ballieston area of the city.

The SSPCA has called on MPs at Westminster to go beyond the present voluntary code and ban the general sale of fireworks, except in the three weeks before 5 November.

And it wants MSPs to tighten the licensing of shops which sell fireworks.