Irish environmentalists who won a battle to have a school call off a mass balloon release have sent a turtle to rehab in the children’s name to say sorry for ruining their day.

Friends of the Irish Environment campaigned to halt the event at a Dublin primary school last week because stray balloons harm marine life.

But, having won their battle, pangs of guilt appear to have kicked in, and the organisation has now sent the affected children a letter saying: “very sorry if you are unhappy today because you had planned a fund raising event with balloons which we stopped!’

“Environmental groups all over the world are joining together to prevent the release of balloons into our environment as science has shown that these balloons can and have killed animals – like turtles.”

The organisation has also paid for WWF to send an injured Indonesian turtle to a rehabilitation centre and the children will be able to track its progress on the internet.

Sam Bond

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