Stop Releasing Balloons For Wildlife Protection

by Jennifer Smith June 25, 2019

Environmentalists are urging everyone to stop releasing balloons into the ozone layer. While it may be a favorite childhood memory, or celebratory tradition for some, the effects of releasing balloons into the sky are harmful to birds, fish and other types of wildlife.

Pamela Denmon, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist in Virginia, said balloons washed-up on the beach is a "huge problem."

"We would do a necropsy on a bird or turtle or other marine mammal and it would have entangled balloon ribbon all throughout its guts," Denmon said. She added that she encountered dead seabirds, hanging from power lines or choked around the neck by balloon strings. (CBC)

The Balloon Council has spent over $1 million dollars lobbying for restrictions or bans on balloon releasing. Five U.S. states are on-board including: Florida, Connecticut, California, Tennessee and Virginia.

Christina Trapani, beach cleanup volunteer in Virginia, said she's encouraged that the word is getting out on balloon litter, and behaviors are changing.

"The bottom line is, when you let go of a balloon, you're littering," she said. "You wouldn't dump a bunch of uninflated balloons on the ground."