This Artist Twists Colorful Balloons into All Kinds of Exotic Creatures

Remember balloon animals from your childhood? Well, Japanese artist Masayoshi Matsumoto takes the children’s party craft to a whole other level. The talented sculptor twists colorful balloons into all sorts of exotic creatures that are full of impressive details. His ever-growing portfolio of land animals, insects, birds, plants, and seas creatures are all rendered by hand, entirely from balloons and without the use of tape or markers.

It’s clear to see that Matsumoto has elevated this art form, and it's all stems from a love of both his unconventional craft and of animals. Each large-scale, inflatable sculpture showcases the chosen creature’s distinctive features and textural elements. In one piece, a black scarab features a shiny balloon shell, scalloped front legs, and delicate antennae. In another, a pink squid is rendered in life-like details, including long balloon tentacles, a patterned body, and realistic eyes.

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Mother Goose Pecks at Police Officer to Get Help for Her Baby Tangled in Balloon String

A panicked mama goose pecks to get cop’s attention, leads her to baby tangled in balloon string

Police sergeant James Givens is a Cincinnati PD veteran with over 26 years of service on the force, but he has never seen a distress call quite like this one.

At least, James thought it was someone. It was just a regular Monday morning when he was in his car and received an unexpected visit from a mother goose.

The animal wanted to grab the attention of the police officer at all costs.

“It kept pecking and pecking and normally they don’t come near us,” He told to WKRC. “Then it walked away and then it stopped and looked back so I followed it and it led me right over to [a gosling] that was tangled up in all that string.”

When the goose looked behind his back a second time and clearly wanted to communicate with the police officer, he decided to follow her. One of her children was trapped in the rope of a balloon. His little feet were moving, but he wasn’t able to set himself free.

Givens wanted to help the little goose himself but was afraid that mother goose would attack him. Luckily, he had some help from specialist Cecilia Charron.

Even though they called the SPCA Animal Rescue for help, nobody was available to help at the time. That’s why Cecilia decided to help the little animal herself.

Sergeant Givens recorded the entire thing and shared a video of the little goose being freed from the balloon and reunited with the mother, which has quickly gone viral.

Assistant Police Chief Paul Neudigate also praised Sergeant Givens and Charron for a great job.