LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Christian Daniels says each time he goes hiking in the desert for mylar balloons he finds some.
“At least that means that there’s less balloons out in the desert for the next trip,” said Daniels.
Daniels says he started searching for mylar balloons at age 15. He is now a college student at CSN.
“One day I saw a balloon and decided to pick it up. And then I did a little bit more research when I got home and I found out that desert tortoises mistake the balloons for wildflowers and they’ll eat them, and they’ll ingest them and it will kill them,” said Daniels.
He added, “When it’s crumpled up in a bush or a tree it kind of looks, resembles the look of a cactus flower.”
Daniels has a Facebook page called “Desert Balloon Project” where he posts photos of finding mylar balloons in the desert. He also posts pictures of other people who have joined the cause and picks up balloons when they see them.
16:16 “I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve heard people tell me I didn’t know releasing balloons did this. I didn’t know tortoises ate the balloons. I’ve gotten told by so many people that they’ve stopped releasing balloons. And that when they go out now, they start picking them up,” said Daniels.
FOX5 talked to Daniels after recently hearing from Las Vegas City Councilor Nancy Brune, who authored an ordinance that restricts the release of helium filled balloons into the air, including mylar balloons. She says there have been many power outages caused by mylar balloons and hopes people will become more educated about the impacts of releasing them, including the outages and wildlife impacts.
Daniels will continue his mission of picking up mylar balloons and says so far, he estimates he’s picked up 4,000 of them.
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