Originally Published on www.fws.gov on August 5, 2015

Credit: USFWS

Balloons are great at birthdays, weddings, graduations and more, but once they get loose, balloons can pose a threat to many animals.

Birds, turtles and other animals commonly mistake balloons for food, which can harm or even kill them.

In addition, many animals can become entangled in balloon strings, which can strangle them or hurt their feet and hands.

For example, more than a hundred balloons were recently collected at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey at a cleanup, and that’s just the number that made it to this one particular beach.

Credit: Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Program

Some of the following pictures are hard to look at, but they make clearer than any words why we all should find alternatives to letting a balloon go.

Credit: Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response ProgramPhoto: Pamela Denmon, USFWSPhoto: USFWS Eastern Shore of VA and Fisherman Island NWR Sea turtles are especially hit hard as they surface to breathe and eat and commonly eat balloons.

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