THOSE Chinese lanterns that people light and send skywards during weddings and other celebrations may look pretty but they’re deadly dangerous to animals.
Cllr Graham Farrington, who owns a farm in Scot Lane, Blackrod, warns that people are just not aware of the damage they do. The floating lanterns work like miniature candle-powered hot-air balloons and can be a fire hazard when they set grass alight. The wires in the lanterns can also be eaten by animals, which can kill them.
Now Cllr Farrington wants the lanterns banned. He’s got the backing of Blackrod Council and is asking MP Julie Hilling to raise the matter in Parliament.
This sounds sensible. No-one wants such an object of celebration to result in disaster, so it may be that we have to find another way to mark our special occasions. This time safely.
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