The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the UK’s leading marine charity, is hoping to encourage communities to think again before organising balloon and sky lantern releases.

From charity releases to memorial events, letting hundreds, sometimes thousands of balloons and lanterns into the sky has become common practice up and down the country.

But stunning as these releases may look, the results on the marine environment can be devastating.

MCS Pollution Campaigns Officer, Emma Cunningham says choking and entanglement are the biggest dangers that balloons and lanterns cause when they float back down to earth.

“A turtle searching for food may mistake a deflated balloon for a jellyfish and swallow it up – the problem is the balloon will block the turtle’s digestive system and lead to starvation and eventually death,” she said.

“Lanterns floating over the sea have been mistaken for distress flares and resulted in false alarm call outs.”

Now MCS has produced a brand new guide to help people understand the dangers of mass releases.

The ‘Don’t Let Go’ action pack can be downloaded at mcsuk.org/url/dontletgo where details can also be found of where to report forthcoming events.