Wild Puffin Colony Welfare | Animal Welfare Hub

Atlantic puffin colonies have declined steeply due to food web changes driven by climate change and overfishing; individual and colony welfare are inseparable.

Key Facts

UK puffin populations have declined by 10% over the past 30 years, driven primarily by breeding failure.
Sand eels — the primary prey of Atlantic puffins — have declined dramatically due to warming seas and fishing pressure.
Skomer Island in Wales and Handa Island in Scotland hold internationally important puffin colonies.
Puffins nest in burrows and are highly site-faithful — colony disturbance causes nest abandonment.
Climate-driven mismatches between chick demand for sand eels and peak sand eel availability cause starvation.

Welfare Considerations

Puffin chick starvation — caused by parents returning with insufficient food — represents a direct welfare harm occurring at scale in declining colonies. Adults forced to forage further for food spend longer away from chicks, exposing them to predation and hypothermia. Human disturbance at colony sites during the breeding season causes panic responses and nest abandonment. Rats and introduced predators at island colonies prey on chicks and eggs. Predator management on key islands has demonstrated significant benefits for chick survival. The welfare of puffin chicks and adults is fundamentally dependent on the health of marine food webs — an issue requiring large-scale policy and climate action.

What You Can Do

Visit puffin colonies only at managed sites with appropriate visitor access controls.
Keep to marked paths and maintain distance to avoid disturbing nesting birds.
Support RSPB and Wildlife Trusts managing key puffin breeding islands for predator control.
Advocate for sustainable fishing policies that protect sand eel populations from commercial harvest.