Atlantic puffins are iconic seabirds whose cliff-nesting colonies are experiencing breeding failures from climate-driven shifts in prey fish distribution. Conservation focuses on monitoring, habitat protection, and climate advocacy.
Puffin welfare is primarily affected by chick starvation during poor fish years - adult puffins may fail to find sufficient food close enough to their colonies to successfully raise chicks. This represents welfare harm at both individual and population levels - starving chicks experience distress before death, and colony-wide breeding failures over multiple consecutive years can cause population decline. Individual puffins face additional welfare risks from bycatch in fishing gear, plastic ingestion, and oiling events. The systemic welfare solution requires climate mitigation to prevent continued northward shift of prey fish distributions. Local conservation measures including rat removal from nesting islands and protection from human disturbance protect colonies from additional pressures.