 Based on what we now know, releasing flying or floating balloons should be outlawed. Animals mistake broken pieces or entire balloons for food, but the balloon chokes the throat, stomach, or digestive tract, causing death. And some balloon victims are already endangered or close to extinction like dolphins, whales, and sea turtles. Birds get their beaks and bodies hopelessly entangled in balloon ribbons and bunches of broken balloons. They also eat pieces of balloon, and like plastic that lodges inside of them, the result is a painful death.