Balloons

Last night, while walking our dogs we found a balloon with a card attached asking the finder to fill in the location found & return it to a school in Reading.

The balloon had been entered in a race to raise money for WaterAid (a very worthwhile cause).

Raising money for good causes is great & should be encouraged but everyone should be aware of the potential damage to wildlife, particularly marine wildlife, from the ingestion of latex balloons.

The balloon in question had luckily landed just outside our deer paddock - had it gone into the paddock our deer would certainly have eaten the balloon. Potentially, this could have been fatal.

We support calls for the banning of mass balloon releases. Anyone who drops litter can be fined up to £2500, but spreading balloons around the countryside is not classed as littering!! Do you understand it? I don't.

The Marine Conservation Society can provide facts & figures on how much damage is done to marine creatures, especially turtles. Visit their site at http://www.mcsuk.org/

Please do your bit for charities (especially this one!!!) but don't do it at the expense of our natural environment & our wildlife within it.