Dead puffins found near Runde in Herøy

Staff at Runde Environmental Centre have found 10 dead Atlantic puffins in a small area on Søre Sunnmøre, Norway. Samples have been sent to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority to test for avian influenza, while other causes such as drowning in fishing nets are also being considered.

AI Comment from GPT 5:

Ten dead Atlantic puffins were found within a small area around Runde and Herøy, prompting sampling and testing for avian influenza and consideration of other causes such as net entanglement; officials emphasize caution and public reporting while awaiting lab results. The birds were not notably underweight, and further examination is planned if influenza tests are negative.

Recent posts help frame this event within a broader regional context of avian influenza activity. Iceland has newly confirmed H5N1 in wild birds in the Reykjavík area after a gap since 2023, with authorities maintaining preparedness and urging reporting and biosecurity measures, underscoring that the virus remains active across North Atlantic flyways Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in the Capital Area. Sweden reports an unusually early and widespread season with neurological signs in multiple species, illustrating varied clinical presentations that could also be relevant if sick puffins are observed before death Record number of bird flu cases. Within Norway, northern regions have confirmed H5N1 among gulls across Troms and Nordland, with advice mirroring the guidance in the post about avoiding contact and reporting carcasses Serious outbreak of avian influenza in the north; related calls in Tromsø for more active carcass removal reflect community responses to clustered findings along shorelines Despair over sick and dead birds – call for gull patrol and align with official confirmations in the area Avian influenza detected in Tromsø. Cross-species detections, such as an Arctic fox in Svalbard testing positive for avian influenza rather than rabies, highlight broader wildlife exposure pathways that can follow seabird die-offs Dead Arctic fox did not have rabies – but avian influenza. Finally, historical die-offs of puffins elsewhere, like the mass mortality reported from Saint George, Alaska, show that multiple factors—from disease to bycatch and environmental conditions—have been implicated in past events, reinforcing the value of the planned necropsies and lab testing to clarify causes here Dead Puffins.