A puffin on Newfoundland’s Southern Shore who endured a traumatic injury resulting in the loss of its eye faced an intense recovery. But thanks to the help of volunteers and people at the Montreal Biodome, it now has a prosperous life ahead in its new home.
Karen Gosse and her team at Rock Wildlife Rescue don’t always see puffins come into their facility, but took in the young puffling after it was found injured at Mobile Central High School. Gosse said the puffin had suffered an orbital injury that resulted in dramatic swelling, saying it likely hit a concrete wall when attracted to the school’s lights.
“I thought ‘Oh boy.’ We didn’t know if [she] was going to survive the night. [Her] head was so swollen, [Her] eye was shut. There was a lot of head trauma, so we weren’t really sure,” Gosse told CBC News Monday.
“There was two ways this could have gone. We either helped … her recover and she was released again if she were sighted in that eye. Or she was euthanized.”
Gosse said she and volunteers were unsure the puffin — who was affectionately named Uno on account of it being alone — would be able to be released and survive in the wild. Uno had lost the use of its right eye, which is incredibly important for hunting and diving in the ocean.
That’s when the Montreal Biodome got involved.
The Biodome, a museum of enclosed ecosystems located at Olympic Park, has taken in puffins from Newfoundland and Labrador before. The dome houses five unique ecosystems, including one that simulates the Labrador Coast for Atlantic seabirds.
After losing his eye on Newfoundland’s Southern Shore, Uno the puffin relied on the kindness of strangers — but knowledgeable ones. Thus began the recovery process for Uno and her journey to her new home in Montreal’s Biodome. The CBC’s Carolyn Stokes has more.
Gosse said the Biodome was excited to take in Uno, who made the trip from St. John’s to Montreal by plane and was released into its new home this week.
“They have a colony of puffins, so Uno will join that colony…. She’ll live with other puffins in a breeding program. They’ll have their burrows. They have an ocean, they have a sky for all intents and purposes,” Gosse said.
“She will live out a life that is amazing. Her freedom won’t be lacking, she will be with other puffins. It’s a perfect scenario, really.”
Uno’s genetic material will also be shared with other research facilities, Gosse said, and hopes research can be done in the Biodome to explore how Uno can survive as a one-eyed puffin to potentially help more puffins in the future.
She said rescue efforts like Uno’s take a large team of people, including veterinarians, volunteers and community members.
“We wouldn’t be able to exist without them, and this bird wouldn’t have been able to recover the way that she did.”
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