The penalty for mass balloon release should be the same as for fly tipping

[Serencwtch]

Yet another mass balloon release local to us.
This time dozens of blue metallic balloons with plastic ribbon.
We are farmers & spent yesterday morning trying to save a calf who was found with the metallic plastic in her mouth. She choked to death slowly & painfully. We have likely lost dozens of unborn lambs as the ewes were running terrified all night by the shiny metallic litter in their field.
We are in a area of outstanding national beauty & the wildlife there won't have a farmer to save them from suffering.
It gets caught up in our crop fields, damages machinery & contaminates food crops.
Theres balloons stuck in trees from a release 2 years ago - this rubbish does not break down.

YABU - if you lose a loved one you have the right to litter the countryside, cause suffering to animals & damage farmers livelihoods

YANBU - It's the same if not worse than any other rubbish dumping & should be prosecuted

Sorry, I thought you were being sarcastic as in ‘not this again’.
Apols

Most people aren't saying that though. Losing a child is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone, but it still doesn't give you the right to kill other peoples livestock.

Report to the council, OP. It can be treated as an offence under the Environmental Protection Act.

I think this is why they need banning. The sales of the helium and helium balloons made illegal.

Because then they will not be possible and people will not have the ethical dilemma of refusing to take part, or fining a devastated family.

Snd those who wish can find other ways to remember. Petals, or bubbles, music etc.

It really just needs to be made illegal. I’ve seen posts on my local FB advertising a mass ballon release for someone who’s just died. People have then posted asking them not to do for all the reasons mentioned and always get shouted down that ‘the family is grieving’ and ‘it’s not harming anyone’ despite lots of evidence to the contrary.

Just easier all round to make it illegal.

This always makes me feel sick. It’s a given thing where I live. Balloon releases, lanterns, fireworks for bereavement anniversaries are constant. I don’t understand how people can be so bloody minded that they can’t even begin to think about the effect of what they’re doing. It’s always animals who suffer from what they decide to do. There’s not a brain cell to spare between these people, which they’ve proved time and again. A young lad stole an electric scooter, came a cropper speeding along with his mate on the back, against a car. Two young lads lying in the road dying while their little scally mates ran off with the stolen scooter to hide it, they literally left them there dying. One lad aged 17 did die and his mate suffered life changing injuries. But they all come out in their balaclavas for fireworks at any given occasion that’s related and often fire them off at people in the crowd that gathers. Especially if the police are in attendance. There’s no arguing with stupid. It’s quite literally “Fly high angle, forever 17” all over Facebook community pages. I don’t understand how people can be so fucking thick. Fuck the theft, fuck the speeding, blame the driver of the car that hit them, let’s do warzone fireworks, strike out at the police and fuck everyone else. Absolutely batshit and I really wish I didn’t live here.

I started where I work 10 years ago and one of the first things I noticed when I looked out of the window was a tatty deflated helium balloon caught up in a tree outside of my office. It was autumn so there were no leaves on the tree. The balloon gets covered up every year with leaves, but 10 years on it's still there in exactly the same condition it was when I started. Imagine if that was in the sea or in a field. It makes me so cross and I am so so sorry for your poor calf and sheep OP. People are wilfully ignorant and bloody selfish.

Yeah i would pretty much do anything if someone had lost there child whether i agreed with it or not. Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to a person it certainly wouldn't be the time for me to give my opinion

But the person i was replying to was saying that

Well I wouldn't be friends with anyone this stupid or selfish. How on earth is killing animals an appropriate response to a baby dying?

I reckon it's tough shit. It's pretty bloody obvious that balloons don't go to heaven.

I lost my 2 week old baby. I'm also very likely to die "young" myself. That doesn't change the fact that balloon releases are absolutely disgusting and kill animals needlessly.

Balloon releases are damaging, classless and wasteful. I can’t stand to see them.

The thing is they represent nothing. The person they’re grieving have gone, their memories are all that are left and I’m not sure what sending a balloon into the air does to ease that.

To put in context the boy who was stabbed is an absolutely horrible local case. It’s incredibly sad. I imagine it was his family and friends (not sure if South American) who have done this and they must be distraught about what I believe is his murder.

I personally would leave it for three / six months, hide the balloons, and then post on relevant FB groups. You will get more support, as not related to the event and it will enable his poor family to grieve appropriately. I’ve not seen a balloon release in this area before, so they aren’t happening constantly.

btw I’m very anti balloons - and won’t have them at parties. However, I think context here is important. I also feel terrible what has happened to your animals and also the wildlife. However, I think complaining now will look and feel in bad taste and you will have less impact.

All in all it’s a very sad situation, for his family and I understand your concerns and fully support the banning of them but think timing is key. I would hate for his family to feel even more sad than currently.

The trouble is there will always be someone grieving who thinks they are entitled to do this. There's so much information out there about the harm that balloons, lanterns and other litter causes that pretending they might not know is no longer a valid defence.

It's horrible when someone loses a loved one especially a young person but lots this shouldn't entitle them to a free pass to litter and kill animals.

There’s a certain irony in needlessly causing the death of an animal without a care in the world to commemorate the death of a child. There are other ways to make that tribute.

Well so another mammal's baby can be killed earlier than the farmer wanted you mean. I hate the balloon releases and the littering by the way.

Understood but you see I’m more angry at the recent Bridget Jones’ film where this was done and normalised (and glamourised).

I think people on Mumsnet are generally educated about this but I’m not sure Joe Public is - you’d be surprised. It needs to be constant education. There’s no such thing as sustainable balloons but yet you see balloon arches on social media all the time and my heart sinks.

There are some restrictions on this. A local man once told me wanted to do a balloon release in a nearby park when his 6 year old son died but he couldn’t get permission from the local authority and had to use a bubble machine instead. I have no idea why the balloon release was the first go to thought. It’s not the first thing I’d be thinking of if someone died.

I have. And no, TO ME, the death of an animal isn’t comparable. What I didn’t do though is think ‘oh Iv lost my child, so fuck every other living creature’. Anything dying, whether child or animal, unnecessarily, especially when caused by idiotic humans (and yes I would class anyone doing a balloon release, grieving or not, as an idiotic human) is the same - abhorrent.

I agree with you 100 %. It's a menace to livestock, wildlife and the environment generally. I don't get why a person's first thought is to release balloons when a person dies. Also those bloody lanterns need to be banned too. Goodness only knows the harm they cause. Plant a tree, for crying out loud. Get a memorial beach in your local park. Sponsor a guide dog, all sorts of better ways to remember a loved one.

It’s a simple metaphor for simple people. They seem to be less common than in my distant childhood but need to be gone.

So your moral compass is basically, ‘If they’re sad enough, risking wildlife, posing significant safety and environmental risk is fine’?

Nothing like a bit of performative mourning, I find. It allows you to be both sympathetic AND idiotic at the same time.

Typos! Sorry.

I'd go a step further and ban all helium balloons. Maybe all balloons ever. Cannot stand them.