Another long-distance balloon story going viral. As if it is some great feat to have your trash land hundreds of miles away. Every time the news media glorifies this destructive activity, it encourages more of this deliberate littering – resulting in more deaths of innocent animals who mistake fallen balloons as food or become entangled in the strings.
We pleaded with WHIO in Ohio and Cisco Chamber of Commerce in Texas to avoid endorsing balloon releases and to help educate others. Instead, they irresponsibly continue to promote the harmful activity. It is heartbreaking to see a story like this get shared tens of thousands of times with people from all around the world commenting that they will also release balloons.
We are hopeful the news media will begin reporting the truth about the ugly results of releasing balloons.
