Releasing balloons en masse into the sky is killing birds say scientists who have called for the practice to be banned, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
"Balloons are a huge threat, not only to birds, but turtles and other marine life," said Fiona Maxwell, campaigner with the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
Dr Jenn Lavers, a biologist at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies says she finds balloons "in about one in 20 of every seabirds I examine". Performing an autopsy on a shearwater, Dr Lavers extracted the remains of a purple balloon from it's gizzard.
"It was a beautiful bird, about 80 or 90 days old," she said. "But after it died and I cut it open, this purple balloon just exploded out of it."
Moreover, in a wedge-tailed shearwater's oesophagus she found the remains of another white, latex balloon.
The birds of Australian deserve to be protected from a premature death. Will you join me in urging the Australian government to ban the release of balloons en masse to help save birds and other wildlife?
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