A huge thumbs down to the Maine Sunday Telegram for agreeing to publish cartoonist Brian Bassett’s “The Family Circus” on March 29.
In the cartoon, a little boy releases his balloon outside to send it to his granddad in heaven. The last frame of the cartoon shows that the balloon reached his granddad, who received it with “love.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been urging the public for years not to release balloons, due to the severe damage and death said balloons cause to wildlife via ingestion, strangling and intestinal blockage.
It is insidious, at best, to perpetuate the myth that balloons reach heaven. Blow bubbles. Scatter native wildflower seeds. Plant a garden. Thousands of animals will be grateful, just as your loved one in heaven will be.
Lucy Hardy
Wells
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