Chinese Lanterns (also in Breeding)

[no_no_nanette]

We have twice recently found the remains of those Chinese Lantern things that you put a candle in and then release so that they float away on the night air ..... very pretty, but potentially lethal when they land in a field with horses. Likely to start a stampede if they are still alight floating into the field in the dark - and also when we have found the remains, they consist of a very nasty thin wire frame which you can just imagine getting wrapped around a horses leg.

I'm sure that it would never occur to anyone who was releasing them that they could be a hazard, but I'm publicising this so that people use them with care, and don't let them float away over fields of livestock. We have enough to deal with on fireworks night, without this additional worry!

 

[hellybelly6]

I dont like these or those helium balloons. We have had some in my horses field and I am terrified he will eat them.

Thanks for letting us know.

 

[pottamus]

They should be banned...they are damn lethal. My neighbours are always letting them off and they end up in my field...even when I have had it cut for hay for gods sake!

 

[hellybelly6]

They are also bad for wildlife and for the environment.

 

[Kat]

Do you have a wedding reception venue nearby? That could be the culprit, they are popular at weddings as a cheaper alternative to fireworks. It might be worth contacting any nearby hotels etc and explaining why these are so much of a problem to animals and asking that they do not allow them at their venue.

 

[stroppymare153]

our bl...y YO was letting them off the other week!!!!

couldn't believe it!!

 

[Dogstar]

I contacted the importer about these as I was horrified by seeing them released at a party in Northampton. I read the instructions and they said not to release within so many miles of filling stations or airports I believe, yet the drunk party goers were happily releasing them without even having read the instructions! The importer replied that they wouldn't come down with the flame still burning, but that doesn't help with them landing in livestock fields or presumably hitting a thatched roof?!