Livestock put at risk by
Bonfire Night lanterns

LANDOWNERS are being warned against using sky lanterns on Bonfire Night.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) in the north said the use of wire-framed paper lamps on either private farmland or public council-owned land, puts livestock, crops and buildings at risk.

CLA north regional director Dorothy Fairburn said: “Sadly, sky lanterns are very popular around this time of year. However, it is impossible to predict where these spent flying bonfires will land. We are asking our members not to allow them to be used on their land and, generally, urge the public not to use them.

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“Those landing in fields pose the risk of death to livestock which ingest the abandoned wire frames and suffer tremendously.

“There is also no guarantee the flame will have extinguished before it lands potentially triggering a blaze that could destroy crops, forestry and farm buildings.”

The association said biodegradable frames in the lanterns do not offer a safe alternative to wire.

Clapham-based Cave Rescue Organisation has in the past been alerted by people who have mistaken sky lanterns for distress flares.

In another incident, a sky lantern, which was well alight, fell into a livery yard in Baildon, West Yorkshire, narrowly missing a six-year-old child, just yards from the hay barn.

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