Beauty and the Beast

Ok, no apologies for starting 2013 with a grumble.
The 'Beast' is, of course, the damned Chinese Lantern which after floating beautifully and majestically across the night sky has to come down somewhere.

While I appreciate how lovely they look when they are in the sky the people that release them have no idea of their danger to cattle, sheep, wildlife in general, large fish, causing coastguard call outs because they are mistaken for flares and even a case of confusion when a lot of them were mistaken for an airport runway flarepath. Their wire frame in chewed up by animals and then it punctures the various parts of the digestive system causing a very painful death through septicaemia. This one has a thin bamboo frame which splinters so probably nearly as bad as the wire framed variety.
There is a government investigation ongoing to discuss whether they need to be banned from sale in the UK.

I don't want to be a killjoy but the fact is that they are very dangerous.
Read the dangers at these links;
BBC
RSPCA
Farmers Weekly
Fire - BBC Report