Smoking and animals... the facts
We all know that breathing in other people’s cigarette smoke (also called second hand smoke) has loads of harmful affects on humans. For example, second hand smoke can increase your risk of lung cancer, it can cause you to have asthma attacks, it can make your eyes really watery and sore, and don’t forget it really makes you stink!
But did you know that cigarettes can also have some harmful effects on your pets? Poor Bruno!
Cats
Cats exposed to second hand smoke are twice as likely to develop feline lymphoma (a type of cat cancer), and if two people living in the house smoke, then the cat is four times more likely to get the disease.
This is because when the cat is around someone smoking, all the nasty chemicals found in cigarette smoke, like Acetone (used in nail varnish remover), Formaldehyde (used to preserve dead bodies) and Methanol (used as rocket fuel) gets into the cats fur. Then because cats lick their fur to clean themselves, the cat is ingesting all these poisonous chemicals, which can go on to kill them.
Even the RSPCA are now thinking about whether to stop smokers from adopting cats from their shelters.
Dogs
Dogs are 50% more likely to get lung cancer if their owners smoke.
Smoking has even been banned at dog shows because the smoke irritates the dog’s
eyes, making them really watery and sore!
Chimpanzees
A chimpanzee called Charlie who lives in a Zoo in South Africa is trying to quit smoking – so even animals can be addicted to cigarettes!
Charlie first got addicted to nicotine because visitors to the Zoo kept throwing cigarettes in to his cage. His keepers think that he started smoking to try and mimic humans. Charlie even acts like a naughty school boy by hiding his cigarettes when staff are near.
Now the staff are urging visitors not to give Charlie any cigarettes or other treats, because as well as being addicted to smoking, he has had already got three rotten teeth from people throwing him cans of fizzy drink! Let’s hope Charlie manages to quit smoking soon!
Fish
Cigarette butts are the second biggest cause of litter, after chewing gum, and it can actually take up to 2 years for one cigarette butt to decompose (because the filter is made of a type of plastic, and not cotton which everyone thinks). How mad is that!!
Because people just throw away their cigarette butts without thinking, millions of them just end up on the streets. Then when it rains they get washed away, down the drains and in to the sewers, then out in to the lakes, rivers and seas.
Then poor little fishies go swimming along, thinking “wow that little thing bobbing up and down in the water looks really tasty, I think I’ll have it for my tea” and they mistake the cigarette butt for food. But because loads of nasty chemicals are trapped in the filter of the cigarette butt, these chemicals seep out in to the fish’s stomach and kill it! They didn’t show that in Finding Nemo now did they!
So what can you do to help protect animals from cigarettes?
If your parents smoke, then you could show them this article, and see if they would mind smoking outside from now on. Don’t forget, it’s not just your pets they will be protecting from second hand smoke, it will be YOU as well!
If you know people who smoke, try and get them to get rid of their cigarette butts properly e.g. put them in an ash tray, or in a cigarette bin if they’re out and about.
You could get your mates together and organise a big ‘clean up’ near where you live, or at your School, to get rid of all the rubbish and cigarette butts lying around.
