Endangered Puffins
By Amelia Volker and Frida Rios
Did you know that puffins mate for life? Unfortunately these adorable penguin looking animals are in a crisis. Puffins have been endangered for more than eight years, since 2010.
The New York Times says, “though some puffin colonies are prospering in Iceland, where the largest population of Atlantic puffins is found, their numbers have dropped from roughly seven million individuals to about 5.4 million since 2015.”If the population dropped so much in so little time will we even have puffins in the future?
For those of you who don’t know what a puffin is, puffins are animals that are mostly common birds that live in Iceland. It seems that people have been recently hunting puffins. They are so cute. They are really loveable birds. It’s sad that people are hunting them.
This picture was taken from Independent.
The puffin population has dropped and is still dropping today. Scientists and researchers say that the population is in danger.”A scientist from South Iceland Nature Research Center has kept a close relationship to hunters to track data and be informed about their population”. Dr. Hansen says “Iceland has restricted the annual harvest, but hunting is accelerating the decline.”People from Iceland have been trying to save their native birds in all ways possible.
For generations people have been hunting puffins as mentioned before, most of the hunting has taking place in Iceland. It has been going on for a while. “I would never kill puffins unless they attack me. It would be sad if I killed them.” “No, it’s not okay to kill puffins even if there’s a tradition, they could still go extinct. It’s not the right thing to do.” Said 6th grader Ixchel Matoes.
People should just stop already, too much is going on, and because of that they are endangered. Which is sad to hear about. Puffins have feelings too, and they should be treated nicely. People should not be killing animals. That is not okay for people to be doing that. Going extinct can affect every everyone. Their predators would have to adapt and scientists will have little to no information about the animals. “I don’t want puffins to go extinct because it wouldn’t just hurt the animals, it could hurt the humans/scientists because they might want to learn more about them," says Ixchel from 604.
Hedin Jonasson and Arni Hilmarsson, for example, are Icelandic hunters of puffins. Which is one of the particular people who hunt puffins. "Since I was a little boy, I was always catching puffins,” says Hilmarsson, who’s in his 50s and grew up hunting seabirds in the Westman Islands. “Each year, I would catch 5,000 to 6,000 puffins. I was raised up on bird meat.” This shows that Hilmarsson is a person who hunts and feasts on puffins.
We feel that people should leave puffins alone and stop hunting them and they also should be treated the same way as humans are treated. In other words, the way you would want to be treated. “It’s not okay that people kill puffins because if they continued to hunt them they could go extinct and the population will be low,” says Ixchel Mataoes from class 604. “I don’t want puffins to go extinct because it wouldn’t just hurt the animals, it could hurt the humans/scientists because they might want to learn more about them‘’
Students and staff can help save the population by looking into charities that donate to saving endangered animals. Something drastic could be switching your diet to vegetarian; it’s not that hard! Today students/staff can start to make a difference in any way, shape, or form you choose!
Did you know that puffins mate for life? Unfortunately these adorable penguin looking animals are in a crisis. Puffins have been endangered for more than eight years, since 2010.
The New York Times says, “though some puffin colonies are prospering in Iceland, where the largest population of Atlantic puffins is found, their numbers have dropped from roughly seven million individuals to about 5.4 million since 2015.”If the population dropped so much in so little time will we even have puffins in the future?
For those of you who don’t know what a puffin is, puffins are animals that are mostly common birds that live in Iceland. It seems that people have been recently hunting puffins. They are so cute. They are really loveable birds. It’s sad that people are hunting them.
This picture was taken from Independent.
The puffin population has dropped and is still dropping today. Scientists and researchers say that the population is in danger.”A scientist from South Iceland Nature Research Center has kept a close relationship to hunters to track data and be informed about their population”. Dr. Hansen says “Iceland has restricted the annual harvest, but hunting is accelerating the decline.”People from Iceland have been trying to save their native birds in all ways possible.
For generations people have been hunting puffins as mentioned before, most of the hunting has taking place in Iceland. It has been going on for a while. “I would never kill puffins unless they attack me. It would be sad if I killed them.” “No, it’s not okay to kill puffins even if there’s a tradition, they could still go extinct. It’s not the right thing to do.” Said 6th grader Ixchel Matoes.
People should just stop already, too much is going on, and because of that they are endangered. Which is sad to hear about. Puffins have feelings too, and they should be treated nicely. People should not be killing animals. That is not okay for people to be doing that. Going extinct can affect every everyone. Their predators would have to adapt and scientists will have little to no information about the animals. “I don’t want puffins to go extinct because it wouldn’t just hurt the animals, it could hurt the humans/scientists because they might want to learn more about them," says Ixchel from 604.
Hedin Jonasson and Arni Hilmarsson, for example, are Icelandic hunters of puffins. Which is one of the particular people who hunt puffins. "Since I was a little boy, I was always catching puffins,” says Hilmarsson, who’s in his 50s and grew up hunting seabirds in the Westman Islands. “Each year, I would catch 5,000 to 6,000 puffins. I was raised up on bird meat.” This shows that Hilmarsson is a person who hunts and feasts on puffins.
We feel that people should leave puffins alone and stop hunting them and they also should be treated the same way as humans are treated. In other words, the way you would want to be treated. “It’s not okay that people kill puffins because if they continued to hunt them they could go extinct and the population will be low,” says Ixchel Mataoes from class 604. “I don’t want puffins to go extinct because it wouldn’t just hurt the animals, it could hurt the humans/scientists because they might want to learn more about them‘’
Students and staff can help save the population by looking into charities that donate to saving endangered animals. Something drastic could be switching your diet to vegetarian; it’s not that hard! Today students/staff can start to make a difference in any way, shape, or form you choose!
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