Why are Atlantic puffins in danger?
The global population of the Atlantic puffin is in decline. Warming waters, overfishing and pollution have all played a factor in the lovable animal receiving a "Vulnerable" status by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Yet in Iceland, which outwardly celebrates the species as a national icon, hunters continue to kill an untold number of puffins with little oversight. The country's traditions and the financial incentive of selling puffin meat to restaurants motivate the hunts.
Meanwhile, off the southern coast of Iceland, a more constructive ritual involving the Atlantic puffin takes place. On the island of Heimaey, children go on "Puffling Patrol", to help puffin chicks who fly into town after being disoriented by the island's lights. The wayward birds are then taken to the local aquarium, where they are measured and tagged, before being guided back to the water.
Unless current trends are reversed, both traditions will be in jeopardy. It's all too familiar a story for Atlantic puffins, which were virtually exterminated by hunters in Maine by the turn of the twentieth century, before Steve Kress led a restoration program to right the wrongs humans had inflicted on the species. This time, it's Iceland's responsibility to help stem the extinction of an animal species loved the world over.
"Puffling Patrol", a tradition worth keeping. Watch video
What can be done to help Atlantic puffins?
Please note: The following are external links will take you off the Save Puffins website.
Help protect the Atlantic puffins by signing a petition calling for a sales ban in Iceland.
Don't support restaurants serving puffin, and make it known you'll be dining elsewhere because of it. Owners will think twice about serving puffin once it starts affecting their bottom line. There are plenty of excellent, sustainable food choices in Iceland, without putting an animal species in peril.
Urge Iceland's President Halla Tómasdóttir to protect their puffins. The country's puffin population has dropped by a staggering 70% since 1995, and one simple way to slow the decline is by banning hunting. Many regions of Iceland depend on puffins for tourism, and hunting only lines the pockets of a select few.
Help Project Puffin in their effort to protect Maine's puffin colonies.
Follow @savepuffins on Instagram and invite us as a collabator on your puffin posts, where our favorites will be shared. More visibility and awareness will equate to more pressure to end this outdated practice.
Watch videos of puffins being puffins.
BBC Earth
This puffin parent must go out to sea to feed his chick, but he must evade other birds that would rob him. Watch video
National Geographic
A tourist in the Shetland Isles, Scotland, made an unlikely friend—a puffin. Watch video
The Dodo
This sweet little puffin was found on the side of the road — and his rescuer just found out something surprising about him. Watch video
The latest Atlantic puffin photos from our Instagram feed. Follow @savepuffins to see new content the moment it's posted!