A BAN on 'fun' balloons is the only way to prevent more wild and domestic animals from choking on the fragments and tags, say campaigners.

A BAN on 'fun' balloons is the only way to prevent more wild and domestic animals from choking on the fragments and tags, say campaigners.

Parish councillors in Chalfont St Peter have already banned mass balloon releases from their land and want Buckinghamshire County Council to make the ban countywide. Parish council clerk Sheila Down said cows and other animals had already suffered lingering and painful deaths as a result of the fragments.

She said: 'Animals can be very dopey about what they eat. We had a problem of a horse eating a plastic bag which had blown into a field and it ended up dead.'

The parish council banned the gas-filled balloons after the RSPCA sent information on the dangers to animals.

According to manufacturers, the balloons can travel to high altitudes and eventually burst in the air, scattering fragments, labels and strings over a wide area as they fall.

County councillor Bruce Allen (Con, Chalfont St Peter) joined members of the countryside sub-committee at county level on Monday to discuss the problem.

He said: 'What goes up must come down and that is what is happening with the balloons. It is a threat to animals and I would like to see this county become the first balloon-free zone.'

He said committee members decided to educate schools in the area about the problem before taking further action.