The Dangers Of Chinese Lanterns

When I went to catch my horse this morning I found them all investigating something in the field. When I got closer I saw it was a Chinese lantern that must have landed in our field over night. Although these lanterns are very pretty when people set them off, they do not think about where they end up and the negative effects they can have.

Chinese lanterns (Image from bitterwallet.com)

This is actually the second time I have found one of these lanterns in our field. The first time it was covered in blood after a horse had been trying to eat it. It reminded me of an article I had seen on Horse And Hound's website (link below).

*Link to Chinese lanterns article on Horse And Hound*

These lanterns are made from a thin wire and paper and horses could very easily get injured on this wire. All they have to do is stand on it or eat a bit of it and they could end up with a very serious injury. When I picked the lantern up to take out of the field more horses came up as they thought the rustling paper was a bag of feed. These lanterns have been banned in some other countries so hopefully as people start to realise the dangers they will become banned in the UK.

Trooper sniffing the lantern.

James grazing next to the lantern.

Trooper and James.

I definitely think that some regulations should be made regarding these lanterns as they are becoming very popular and may cause a lot of problems to horses and livestock.

*Additional Info* It has come to my attention that in the RSPCA have a petition that you can sign, they need 20,000 signatures so get signing!
http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaigns/wildlife/chineselanterns

A Facebook page has also been created, the link is below;
http://www.facebook.com/banchineselanterns

Love Laura
xxxx