In spring the group, which locally operates four garden centres in Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire, decided the risk to farm animals was so great that the product should no longer be sold.
Group operations director Simon Edwards said: “With so much awareness of the potential danger to livestock, and with many of our centres located near arable land or within the New Forest, we felt it would be irresponsible to continue to sell them.
“Now we want to see the product totally banned in the UK as the likelihood of hurting livestock is very high. We don’t want to stop people having fun, but in country areas it’s clearly an unwise risk to take.
Farmers around the UK have called for sky lanterns to be banned as a fire risk to barns full of hay or straw, as well as a danger to livestock.
They report that cattle have been killed by eating wire from degraded lanterns that was accidentally picked up by harvest machinery and put into winter feed.
And coastguards have warned the lanterns are easily confused with distress flares and can lead to unnecessary callouts.
The airborne illuminations are like small, hand-held hot air balloons and typically launched at outdoor parties and weddings.
After lighting the fuel cell, hot air sends the lanterns into the sky — and the increase in the number of them landing in the countryside has become a hot topic.
www.golden-acres-nursery.co.uk Photography by Phil Dowding
