Atlantic puffins face welfare challenges from climate-driven shifts in prey fish distribution that reduce breeding success and chick survival across their North Atlantic range.
Puffin welfare at breeding colonies is determined largely by prey availability during the critical chick-rearing period. When sandeels shift their distribution with changing sea temperatures, adult puffins must travel increasingly far for food, returning less frequently with smaller meals. Chicks that receive insufficient food grow slowly, become emaciated, and may be abandoned before fledging. Each chick starvation represents an individual welfare event that accumulates across breeding populations showing declining success. Climate action that stabilizes sea temperatures, combined with sustainable fishery management that maintains sandeel populations, is the foundational welfare intervention for puffins.