Puffins on the Faroe Islands are in danger
Might tourism save the adorable seabirds?
WITH THEIR engagingly rainbow-coloured beaks, puffins are the star attraction on the Faroe Islands. But puffin boffins fear that their numbers are falling so fast that in 20 years they may have vanished from the archipelago. In 1997, estimates Jens-Kjeld Jensen, the Faroes’ top puffin expert, the islands were home to 1.5m of the birds; but now their numbers are down by 80%. A tiny uptick in numbers in the past two years won't be enough to save them, he fears.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Well worth saving”
Europe August 10th 2019
- Migrant arrivals in Italy have tumbled
- A consulting firm founded by an outgoing commissioner tests the rules
- Norway has haddock enough of fish smugglers
- America and its allies are helping Ukraine to get its sea legs back
- A Dutch care home experiments with housing students with the old
- Puffins on the Faroe Islands are in danger
- The eastern summer
From the August 10th 2019 edition
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