Yorkshire dairy farmer urges ban on Chinese lanterns after cows killed

Tom Cummins sometimes finds the remains of 30 or so of the fashionable flying party attractions in his fields at Stainsacre, near Whitby, having been brought to the farm by the prevailing wind.

And twice he has ordered a post mortem after suspicious cow deaths, at 140 a time, and got back a report the animal had been suffering from a needle-like length of wire embedded in an internal organ.

One cow, last year, had wire in a lung, and earlier this year he ordered a similar investigation. "It showed a piece of wire had pierced her stomach and travelled up a vein to her heart, where it got lodged and formed a huge abscess," he said.

"The first time, we wondered if it was our fault. We use tyres to weigh down the covers on the silage. But we always throw them away if there is wire exposed and we have been using them 35 years without this problem.

"With the number of lanterns we are finding, it seems pretty clear what is happening. A cow won't eat a Chinese lantern but the forage harvester chops them up and they get into the silage. There is no saying how many have been lost the same way.

"You lose animals for all sorts of reasons and don't order a post mortem. But these were particularly odd cases. We tried everything, for 10 weeks, to save the last one. These animals are worth anything from 1,500 to 2,000.

"I don't want to stop anybody having a good time but the lanterns cost about 30 for 25 and I would like to advise another case of beer instead."

The NFU has long been campaigning against the lanterns, which when lit and allowed to take to the skies can travel for up to 15 miles. It argues they cause fires and are a threat to livestock and has now moved to calling for a ban, following the example of Australia, Malta and some parts of Germany.