ORGANISATIONS have called for “dangerous” Chinese lanterns to be banned across the New Forest.

Concerns over the risk to wildlife and sensitive habitats have led to the call from New Forest National Park Authority and other animal welfare groups.

Worries centre on the risks for ponies and other livestock who can become entangled in the frame of the lantern, as well as evidence from Defra over the lanterns ‘significant fire risk’.

The New Forest NPA say the frames of lanterns are particularly dangerous, as they can get chopped up with hay and eaten by horses, which causes their stomachs to rupture and lead to an agonising death.

Hampshire County Council have already banned the launching of sky lanterns from its land and National Parks England is lobbying for the release of sky lanterns to be classified as littering and banned.

The organisation is also calling for more public awareness of the hazards, and urges people to find more environmentally-friendly ways to celebrate special events.

New Forest NPA chief executive Alison Barnes said: “We have been concerned for some time about sky lanterns; they are a potentially serious threat to the internationally important wildlife and habitats of the New Forest and the livestock which shape the landscape.

Graham Ferris, chairman of the New Forest Commoners Defence Association, said: ‘We believe that sky lanterns represent a totally unacceptable risk to the New Forest and its livestock.

‘A fire started by these lanterns could prove devastating, and what’s left lying around after the lanterns have landed can entangle livestock or be eaten by them with fatal consequences.”

And Tony Hockley of the New Forest Equine Association added: “These lanterns are so dangerous in so many ways that no-one who cares for the countryside and the animals that graze it should even think about setting them off. Few other types of litter can have such devastating results.”