Time to ban the release of helium balloons and sky lanterns

In this guest piece, animal welfare and rights charity, Animal Concern, argues that helium balloon and sky lantern releases should be banned in Scotland, highlighting the devastating consequences for wildlife and farm animals and calling for more compassionate ways to remember loved ones.

It was less than a hundred years ago that people began releasing helium balloons as a means to celebrate. Since then, balloon releases have expanded in use for nearly every special occasion. From weddings to memorials, graduations to gender reveals, festivals to New Year’s Eve celebrations, each year sees millions of balloons released. 

Helium balloons can float in the air for days and can land anywhere – land, trees, or water - littering the environment and becoming a danger to wildlife, farmed animals, and companion animals that may come across them and mistake them for something edible.

Studies have shown that more than 265 species of birds, fish, mammals, and marine turtles, including endangered and threatened species, have ingested or become entangled in marine debris, of which balloon litter largely contributes.  For every creature that is found tangled in balloon ribbon or asphyxiated on balloon debris, there are that many more that slowly die without being found.

Despite an increased understanding of how balloons impact wild and farmed animals, and despite 32 Councils in Scotland, over 188 in England, and 16 in Wales having banned the release of balloons on Council land, people continue hosting organised balloon releases, wanting to believe that the balloons make it to heaven, or evaporate into the atmosphere.

On the 21st July this year, farmer Kraig Kerr found his 3-month-old calf on his farm in Fife, lying dead with a deflated helium balloon protruding from its mouth. The young calf had choked to death on the balloon after mistaking it for something edible.  Mr Kerr told BBC Scotland it is the 6th time a helium balloon has landed on the farm in 2026 alone, and the problem is worsening.  In recent months, there has been a surge in the release of helium balloons across the UK as a means of remembering loved ones who have died.

When Glasgow Live announced one such intended event planned for last month in Ayrshire, we contacted the Ayrshire Council.  A response came that they were attempting to contact the organisers to encourage them to find an alternative way to remember the tragic loss of a community member. Unfortunately, the balloon release went ahead.

Upset comments followed, with anger that people were remembering one tragedy by creating another. Amid all the backlash around intentional balloon releases, it was a big shift in the right direction when organisers of a memorial for three-year-old Noah Woods recently decided not to proceed with a planned balloon release, after concerns were raised by the public about the impact of balloons and their ribbons on wildlife and the environment. Instead, those attending were asked to bring candles or battery-powered lights. 

The decision came shortly before over 100 balloons were released in Chippenham in memory of a 16-year-old boy who had died. When an independent media outlet, Wiltshire 999s, released a statement that it does not endorse balloon releases, following its reporting on the Noah Woods memorial, it prompted us to question why more media outlets don’t do the same. If they are going to publish stories that encourage community acts of harmful littering, should they not put forth their own stance on the issue?

Which is why we are calling on UK media outlets to consider their own position on balloon releases following two recent memorials, which have taken very different approaches to the practice. 

What Animal Concern, and others campaigning against the release of helium balloons and sky lanterns, cannot make sense of is why, when there are laws against littering, does the law turn a blind eye to announcements that there will be a large community gathering to release litter into the sky? When someone is about to break the law, announcing it publicly, surely swift consequences should follow.  

This is the question we have put to the Scottish Government, to which an answer has not been forthcoming. There is a disconnect between tossing litter directly onto the ground and sending litter into the sky to land out of sight. Surely, prevention is key in addressing littering, and a ban on the release of litter into the sky MUST be put in place. 

A nationwide ban across Scotland is essential to get this under control, and for meaningful enforcement to prevent intended releases of helium balloons or sky lanterns. Which is why we have submitted a petition to the Scottish Government to implement a Helium Balloon and Sky Lantern Prohibition Act, which was published 30-09-2026: https://petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE2266. 

In the meantime, we are engaging with venues that host events that might allow the release of helium balloons, sky lanterns, and fireworks, asking them to sign a pledge to be “wildlife-friendly” venues and to use animal-friendly alternatives.

Grieving families should be able to create a meaningful memorial. But not at the expense of the animals and the environment. Our charity is asking whether there is an opportunity for communities and the media outlets that report on them to encourage forms of remembrance that do not leave litter behind or create risks to life for wildlife, farm animals, and domestic pets.