Balloon Release

  Ok, call me a spoil sport or whatever you wish but I am going to flat out say that I do not like balloon releases.  Sorry, folks, those balloons do not help raise awareness of any cause, they do not go to Heaven to let your loved one know you are thinking of them and, no matter what the packaging says, they are not environmentally-friendly.  Yep, releasing a bunch of balloons, whether Mylar, latex or paper, may give you that warm, fuzzy feeling but, in the long run, you are just hurting something else.  The balloons wind up in the Bayou all of the time and it frustrates me to no end.  Why?  Because they do nothing but litter up the place.  The balloons (of all types) become hung up in the marsh and there is literally no way to retrieve them.  It takes latex balloons up to four years to decompose and Mylar ones even longer.  That is far too long and critters do not understand that these things are hazardous.  Let a deflated balloon (which they all do at some point) fall into the water and fish, turtles, birds, dolphins or whatever critter will think it is a bit of food.  Once swallowed, there is not much hope that it will ever pass before killing the critter.  The strings and ribbons attached to the balloon are even a greater risk to the creatures.  Even if the balloon, itself, is swallowed completely, the streamers attached cannot be "pulled" in or cut off.  These strings either choke an animal or entangle it so it cannot move.  Both scenarios kill.  Even the paper "sky lanterns" that claim to be eco-friendly are not.  They are held together with wires that are a snare waiting to happen.  A few years ago, I found a small raccoon so tangled in the wires of a sky lantern that it was literally hog-tied.  The baby raccoon had starved to death before I found it.  It broke my heart. Animals are curious by nature and find things like this fascinating....until they are trapped.  The sky lantern had been released to raise awareness for breast cancer.  Ok, fine.  Raise awareness...noble cause...killing an innocent creature because of it...not so noble.

  Just this week there was another balloon release on the beaches across the Bay.  Well, guess what??  There are now balloons stuck in the marsh of the Bayou.  I cannot retrieve them.  They are too far into the depths of the Bayou to reach by boat and I am sure not traipsing in risking a bite by a cottonmouth.  It is invariable that these will most likely cause problems for some creature.  One of my critter friends will perish because of human stupidity.  It saddens me to think of it.

  Folks, think.  Just think.  Think before acting.  That goes a long way.  There are other methods to raising awareness, honoring someone or celebrating.  There are ways that will not jeopardize wildlife nor cause a major littering problem.  Think....just think.  Please take better care of this earth....its the only one we have.