FREMANTLE retailers should be banned from using latex balloons in their marketing, says a vet nurse.
South Freo’s Lisa Hills says burst balloons get washed into drains and then the ocean where they pose a threat to birds, turtles, dolphins and other animals. The brightly coloured pieces of latex are mistaken for food and end up blocking intestinal tracts, which leads to agonising starvation.
Ms Hills has started an online petition at http://www.change.org and is asking the council to consider taking its proposed plastic bag ban a step further.
The plastic bag ban has been approved by the council, but has to make it through state parliament before it can be enforced.
Mayor Brad Pettitt says the council doesn’t have the power to ban balloons, but won’t use them at its own events in future.
“Sustainability staff have advised that the City of Fremantle is currently developing a new sustainable events policy and guideline which will deal with balloons as part of its minimum standards for events production and management,” Dr Pettitt says.
• When Herald photographer Matthew Dwyer snapped this cocky in East Fremantle, it seemed to be having a lark with this party balloon, but vet nurse Lisa Hills says there’s a downside to all the latex in the environment. Colourised image
Ms Hills volunteered on the plastic bag campaign after her clinic was unable to save a pelican that had eaten a latex glove. It’s spurred her on to what has become a crusade.
“Since August I have been getting the shits with retailers, particularly one near the ocean near my house, because no-one at the store is willing to communicate with me,” Ms Hills told the Herald.
She says one staffer became aggressive a couple of weeks ago when she started picking up bits of burst balloon, which were heading towards a nearby drain, but recent training in non-violent campaigning had helped her diffuse the situation.
“There’s an organisation called Balloons Blow that gives you alternatives, but [retailers] are adamant the balloons are such a big part of their marketing,” she says. It recommends flags, streamers, garden spinners, bunting, painted rocks and ribbon dancers as flashy alternatives that won’t strangle seagulls.
Ms Hills has recently done some workshops with the Tangaroa Blue organisation, which studies the effects of rubbish on Australia’s beaches, and has been discussing the issue with scientists on Lord Howe Island, who’ve discovered shearwater chicks are dying in large numbers because their parents have been inadvertently filling them with plastic, which they can’t digest. One dead chick had more than 200 pieces in its stomach.
by STEVE GRANT
