What goes up must come down, and sometimes this has deadly consequences for seabirds. A bird can die after just ingesting a single piece of plastic marine debris. Of the different types of debris found, balloons were disproportionately deadly to seabirds compared to hard plastic. In 1 out of every 5 birds found to have eaten a balloon, that balloon was its cause of death. Marine turtles, fish, seabirds, whales and even farm animals get entangled in balloon strings or swallow the balloon which then blocks the guts so that the animal will starve. Balloon fragments can take four months to pass through a turtle's intestines, preventing them from diving so it will starve to death. This picture was taken on the 12th of February 2019 at Harris Farm in Pittwater Place, Mona Vale - a beach suburb in northern Sydney and some balloons were seen flying around the car park too.
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