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Chinese lanterns threat to animals
February 22, 2010
Banning wire-framed Chinese lanterns, much loved at celebration parties, is the only way to stop cows and sheep dying when they eat the sharp frames according to a politician.
Chinese lanterns, popular at festivals, are made from tissue paper around a wire frame with a candle-like fuel cell at the bottom which, when lit, fills the paper frame with hot air causing them to float into the air and glow.
But Sharon Bowles, MEP for the South East, is appealing for the lanterns, which have been mistaken for UFOs, to be banned because they are a threat to cows and sheep.
The National Union of Farmers have reported at least one case of an animal dying after eating the frames.
Sharon said: “When you hear about the damage these wire-built lanterns could cause there are only two solutions – redesign them to be biodegradable or ban flying lanterns altogether.”
She said the lanterns land on farmland and can be cut with silage and fed to animals.
Her call was backed by the RSPCA.
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