To support a ban on Chinese Lanterns

[Myleetlepony]

www.nfuonline.com/Regions/East-Anglia/News/Fight-continues-against-lantern-menace/
They have got to be one of the most stupid ideas around at the moment. I've written to two popular local wedding venues that allows them to be set off, highlighting the NFU campaign and asking them to consider banning them. Waiting for replies. However, I think they need to be banned from sale completely.
If this wire got around an animal's leg it wouldn't break, it would sever skin, flesh and tendon. So it was terrifying to find one in my ponies' field last weekend. Not to mention the impact if parts of the lantern were eaten. Or if they get into hay or feed. Or if they landed while still alight... Or imagine a cat or dog getting tangled in the debris...
So, could the Bridezillas on here bear this in mind when they make plans for their happy day please?

[ChooksAway]

One set fire to a tree near our house this summer!
YANBU

[Doodlez]

I must confess, as pretty as they are, I have wondered about the wisdom of them when I've watched them scrape the roof tops in residential areas.

[TiggyD]

Throw a lump of metal and paper out your car window and you'll get fined. Why should it be OK to litter by floating things up in the air. Balloon releases should be banned as well.

[cupcakesandbunting]

I think someone needs to get a life.

[Myleetlepony]

Really cupcakes? If a horse, cow or sheep gets it's leg caught in the wire from one of these lanterns what do you think happens? It's as thin as cheeswire and very strong. So, their legs get shredded, their tendons get cut. I'm sure you realise what happens next in many cases - the animal is hopefully found quickly and put to sleep. They die.
I think that's something worth fighting about personally.

[cupcakesandbunting]

So ban them in rural areas. Don't see the need for a blanket ban, surely?

[2shoes]

yanbu

[Myleetlepony]

Yes Cupcakes, the lantern may go up in a town, but where will it come down? In any case, how would you feel if it came down on your garden shed still alight?
It's only a matter of time before we hear of cats having got the wire around their necks. I suspect they would probably stand a good chance of dying too.

[Myleetlepony]

And, unless you ban the sale of them, how on earth can you control where they might be set off?

[sethstarkaddersmum]

I started a thread about this the other week when we got back from camping.

The stories people linked to were shocking: a caravan burned, a house burned, fields set fire to and bamboo splinters getting into silage and killing cows very painfully when they eat the silage.

A couple of people posted who had been there when lanterns were set off and went wrong.

yes, they should be banned I'm afraid. It is a pity because they are magical and fun and harmless probably more than 99% of the time, but it was evident from there having been so many accidents reported already that they are still unacceptably risky.

[LinenBasket]

i have them, but they are fully degradable, no wire.

[MichaelaFinnigan]

Darn it, I always just thought they were pretty and thought one day I'd let some go on a special occasion, now I can't do it. Will just have to stick with cake and wine for a special occasion.

[sethstarkaddersmum]

do yours have bamboo in them? if so you should probably chuck them

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

YANBU, they had them at Camp Bestivale which is set in a village full of thatched houses

[nameymcnamechange]

Its a shame because people love them and I can see the appeal.

However, sadly, I do think they need to go.

[grapeandlemon]

They are awful for all the reasons you state

YANBU

[Greensleeves]

oh they are so beautiful and special

but if they are dangerous then that is that I suppose

[TotalChaos]

yanbu.

[canella]

i agree they should be banned. I'm not in the UK but my MIL was telling me that a young boy let one go in their town centre one evening and the wind caught it and it ended up in a courtyard and the historical building went on fire - loads of historical things were destroyed - all because of a chinese lantern!

[choufleur]

YANBU.

[JaneS]

YANBU. I think wedding magazines are fucking irresponsible for pushing them, too - but that's hardly a surprise.

[Ariesgirl]

cupcakes - you think they should be banned in rural areas only? And what do you think happens to the ones which are released in urban areas? That they desecend again solely in urban areas? Or that they may just travel a few miles? It's the same with idiots who think that releasing helium balloons into the atmosphere is a fitting way to remember a loved one or to mark an event. Well if you want your balloons to end up strangling marine creatures and choking them, then maybe.

It's just a form of sanctioned littering and is horrible. YANBU.