Environmental advocates are raising awareness about the dangers of balloons for wildlife in the Great Lakes and elsewhere.
Volunteers for the Alliance for the Great Lakes picked up more than 18,000 balloons, balloon pieces or balloon strings along Great Lakes shorelines from 2016 to 2018, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Lara O'Brien, who studies at the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability, said that an Australian study published in March found balloons are the highest-risk plastic debris for seabirds.
"I've seen a lot of people come together, gather and celebrate graduations, weddings, other celebrations, and they release balloons and don't really consider the consequences when the balloons come down," she said.
During an annual cleanup program, the Alliance for the Great Lakes found between 4,400 and 7,200 balloons or pieces of balloon debris on Great Lakes beaches each of the last three years.
The variation in the numbers can most likely be attributed to the number of volunteers on a particular beach in a certain year, not less balloon waste, said group spokeswoman Jennifer Caddick.
"It's really dramatic and troubling," Caddick said. "It paints a picture of the bigger plastic pollution problem plaguing the Great Lakes, our oceans, and really the entire planet."
Pamela Denmon, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist in Virginia, said balloons washed-up on the beach is a "huge problem."
"We've never supported or sponsored any balloon releases," council executive director Lorna O'Hara said. "We want people to continue to be able to use balloons, enjoy them, and then dispose of them properly."
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