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.
Every once in a while, something comes along that just makes you scratch your head and ponder. It was time to catch a few fish for the injured heron so my daughter and son-in-law headed to the pier with me. The pickings were slim for the poor bird, though, as I had a terrible time catching anything. Three pinfish, two small white trout, eight shrimp and one menhaden rounded out his meal for the evening. Although his meal was small, the bird seemed happy to have found a new friend in my daughter. She patiently coaxed him to come nearer and nearer while she held the little fish. Soon the bird decided that all was safe and it ate heartily. After we left the pier, the bird flew off to my brother's house to get a few handouts from the grill. This bird is becoming spoiled!
While tossing the net for bird food, I caught a funny little fish. It is this one that had me pondering all sorts of wild thoughts. What normally is a small, nondescript fish turned into the conversation piece of the evening. My haul included a pufferfish. This fish, when agitated, can inflate itself to several times its original size. It puffs up like a balloon with either water or air depending on where it is. This inflation is a defensive tactic which makes it non-palatable to predators. When attacked, the fish simply inflates and a potential predator cannot swallow the fish. Small spines on the body aid in this defense. It is said that there is some toxicity in the pufferfish which also is a defense mechanism. If eaten, it can cause death. But back to that inflation and a supposed predator. Imagine the surprise when a predator tries to swallow its prey and that very prey suddenly grows three times its normal size. Add to that size a bunch of prickles and this would definitely present a problem!
I played with the pufferfish for a few minutes to show Elizabeth and Robbie the uniqueness of the fish. It was equally adept at puffing on the pier as in the water. They got tickled at the fact that the fish could not stay upright in its puffed-up state. It rolled around on the pier like some white ball. The heron kept eyeing the fish and easing in for the kill. I knew this was not a good idea and kept shooing the bird away. After a few minutes of playing with the fish, I tossed the critter back into the water so it could go about its pufferfish business. Contrary to what one would believe, the fish did not immediately deflate and swim to safety. Instead, it floated about belly-up for a couple of minutes. Ok, fish..you are free! I gently nudged it with the end of a pole causing the fish to flip and deflate. Away swam our entertainment! Be free, Little Puffer, be free. (Sorry, Buddy Heron, you do not get to eat pufferfish! Oh, and by the way, Elizabeth named the soon-to-be-one-legged heron "Skipper".)
I forgot to mention that the fantastic photographs in this post were taken by my talented daughter, Elizabeth! Thank you for allowing me to share them!
