FARMERS Tamsind and Jonny Fuller appealed to revellers to think twice about using Chinese lanterns when one of their cows died after eating one.

The wire used to make the lantern became wrapped around the lungs of Goldilocks, an English longhorn cow, causing her to become unusually aggressive and bringing on the early birth of her calf.

Hours later Goldilocks died having contracted gangrene from the wire.

Her calf, Davina, has been left orphaned and is being hand-reared on the couple’s Spinney Abbey farm, Wicken.

Tamsind said that she had found several of the lanterns on her land in the past but as they farmed about 300 acres it was impossible to comb the fields every day.

She said: “We wouldn’t always be able to work out a reason for a death as the cows don’t have routine autopsies but we asked the company that took Goldilocks away to let us know if they found anything.

“They phoned to say that poor Goldilocks had wire wrapped round her lungs. She must have eaten the remains of a Chinese lantern.

“The problem with the lanterns is that once the paper has decomposed it is almost impossible to see the wire that is left.

Tasmin added: “You can buy wire-free lanterns but they are made with bamboo which could be as dangerous so we would urge people to think twice when thinking of setting one off.”