How To Save Pufflings (And Why)
I love puffins – do you? They always look so gorgeous – but they are endangered. This gorgeous video shows what people are doing to help protect the vulnerable babies, called pufflings.
There’s a transcript of the BBC video below.
“We’re going to catch puffins!” says an adorable child.
Many families in Iceland go out into the cold, dark nights to look for pufflings, or baby puffins. It’s called the puffin patrol. The pufflings have to leave the safety of their nests to grow and feed, but they get distracted by the lights in towns and by humans and traffic.
Then it’s easy for them to be killed by a car, or hunted and killed by a cat.
Iceland has 40% of the world’s population of Atlantic puffins, but rising temperatures due to climate change, habitat destruction and hunting have made them an endangered species now.
What Happens to the Pufflings?
When kids catch pufflings, they keep them safe overnight, and then take them the next morning to a team of experts.
The pufflings are checked for health, and tagged and counted. 2018 was a record year for pufflings – and it’s largely because the whole town has got involved. Everyone is on the lookout for pufflings, and they know to bring them to the experts to be checked.
Some of them need a wash if they have touched oil or petroleum. But most are quickly released.
One of the scientists said it’s a great social thing in the town, with so many people working together to help the puffins and pufflings.
In the early 2000s, puffin populations dropped sharply from 7 million to about 5 million. Their future is still uncertain. But I love it when people come together to help!
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Warm regards,
P.S.  Don’t forget to download your free green living handbook “Live Well, Live Green” here.
Related:
- Do your laundry the green and ecofriendly way – here’s how!
- Get rid of all the toxic products in your life (you’ll be shocked at where they hide!). It’s easy – see how here!