Farmers complain of Chinese lantern damage

Hundreds of county farmers are reporting damage to livestock and farm buildings caused by Chinese lanterns, farming officials said today.

As more people set off Chinese lanterns at parties, the National Farmers' Union (NFU) said it had received disturbing calls from members over injuries and deaths that had been caused to animals by the wire-framed balloons.

Others have seen buildings and farms set on fire as lanterns crash down to earth.

The call comes as another group, the Women's Food and Farming Union, which recently started a county branch, called for an outright ban to be imposed on the lanterns.

Helen Bower, president of the WFU, said several of the union's members had lost livestock.

She said: "WFU are extremely concerned that these lanterns are sold legally in this country.

"The construction wires are lethal to cattle and, with the hay and silage season upon us, members are concerned wires will be chopped by silage machines and incorporated into bales leading to deaths in cattle in the months ahead."

She called for public support for a campaign to get the lanterns banned and for politicians to raise the issue in Parliament.

Oliver Cartwright, for the NFU in Shropshire, said it shared the WFU's concerns but had stopped short of calling for an outright ban.

He said: "We are meeting manufacturers to discuss ways of making them greener."