Valentine's kills wildlife: Ban helium balloons

[whitethaiger]

We walked our customary 2 mile stretch of beach to day and found an unbelievable 39 balloons!! While a lot were too damaged to make out the print we can say with certainty that the majority was Valentine's related.

We normally don't pick up every piece of trash on the beach (with the exception of glass, which we find often), but when we started to notice balloons every few yards we picked them up and got the above count without searching. This is on a state park beach that does not see that many people this time of year, so the balloons all had to fly some distance.

We are very familiar with this beach, having walked it hundreds of times and this was a very sad experience. With this many balloons one knows that animals get hurt. We've chased birds from plastic trash before.

BTW, we've found the occasional balloon in the desert in the past also.

Why are people so irresponsible? It's the same irresponsible behaviour that led to the ban of alcohol and glass bottles on the beach. So now it's illegal to enjoy a sunset at the beach with a glass of wine.

Oh, with all the distraction we did not forget to enjoy the spectacular sunset, too bad we didn't bring a camera.

[blupaddler]

Sorry Uwe.

Having seen a great deal of this over the years, and things getting worse too. Unfortunately it's a couple of people that ruin it for the rest of us.





Happy Valentines day though!
Just so you know, alcohol is still allowed on some SD city beaches. Just not in glass. And I know of a good tour boat operator for Mission Bay (just wierd operating hours

[oly884]

We walked our customary 2 mile stretch of beach to day and found an unbelievable 39 balloons!! While a lot were too damaged to make out the print we can say with certainty that the majority was Valentine's related.

We normally don't pick up every piece of trash on the beach (with the exception of glass, which we find often), but when we started to notice balloons every few yards we picked them up and got the above count without searching. This is on a state park beach that does not see that many people this time of year, so the balloons all had to fly some distance.

We are very familiar with this beach, having walked it hundreds of times and this was a very sad experience. With this many balloons one knows that animals get hurt. We've chased birds from plastic trash before.

BTW, we've found the occasional balloon in the desert in the past also.

Why are people so irresponsible? It's the same irresponsible behaviour that led to the ban of alcohol and glass bottles on the beach. So now it's illegal to enjoy a sunset at the beach with a glass of wine.

Oh, with all the distraction we did not forget to enjoy the spectacular sunset, too bad we didn't bring a camera.

Not trying to start an argument, bud did you see any animals dead from balloons? The blame should be placed upon the people that did it, not the inanimate object or even the calender day.

You are right, people are VERY irresponsible, but blaming the day or blaming the balloon is like blaming guns for killing people or blaming spoons for people being fat. It's stupid people that ruin things for the rest of us.

I think the solution lies in the education of people, not the ban of balloons. You wouldn't ban vehicles because people and animals get killed by them every day, would you?

[Ursidae69]

A lot of plastics end up being discarded and can be pretty harmful. Wish people wouldn't let balloons go, or throw trash in general, but most people pretty much suck. One thing that gets me fired up is fishermen discading old line. I've seen quite a few dead or injured water birds due to fishing line that is dicarded in the water.

[dieselcruiserhead]

sounds dumb but if anyone puts anything forward that 'bans balloons' the anti-environment group will have a field day, it is that dumb unfortunately..

[Scott Brady]

Uwe isn't blaming the balloons, just the idiots that send them off into the sky without any thought to where they may land. Just like New Years gunshots in the air. Not the guns fault, but I cannot imagine the mentality (or alcohol level) of someone who would discharge a firearm into the sky in a city.

[whitethaiger]

Uwe isn't blaming the balloons, just the idiots that send them off into the sky without any thought to where they may land. ...

Exactly!

I did choose an agressive headline to grab attention, that's what headlines are for. I had hoped people would read the whole post.

[oly884]

Exactly!

I did choose an agressive headline to grab attention, that's what headlines are for. I had hoped people would read the whole post.

I did read the post and agreed completely.

I apologize for the misunderstanding.

[kcowyo]

Love stinks. Yeah, yeah.....



And I'm quoting Adam Sandler btw, not J. Geils.

[toyrunner95]

i dont think its any one person, it probably a celebration, australaia let off some million ballons for their new years or whatever, where do they all end up? or do they just hope they go out the hole in the ozone. realisitcally i dont like baloons, they are irritating to me. just a preception. its the same as that chalky heart candy. they keep making more, or do they recycle the old stuff.

i still think we should find a way to sling shot our trash to the sun, or jupiter or something. but thats not a real solution.

and yes, the spoon is fat, it ran away with the fork after the cow that made the jump.