Sewing to Save Baby Puffins

What better use for your sewing skills than helping rescue baby puffins?


[Creative Commons photo by Seth M]

Each year on the Scottish isle of St Kilda, dozens of pufflings are stranded inland after the lights from the island disorient them. Rangers with the National Trust of Scotland rescue the babies by putting them into cotton drawstring bags to keep them safe before releasing them back into the sea.

Property manager Susan Bain is asking anyone with sewing skills to pitch in making rescue bags to help The National Trust of Scotland stock up for this summer’s round of rescues. She says:

St Kilda’s seabirds are so important, so we do everything we can to protect their populations. Every puffling is precious and we rescue everyone we can. Our staff take great care to keep any lights to a minimum. Despite this, we always seem to find some stray pufflings around the staff housing. It is really important that we make the release of these birds as stress free as possible. The bags really seem to work well and we need to replenish our stock for the summer season.

Folks who live in the UK and are interested in helping out can contact contact Susan Bain at 01463 232034 for details. Anyone outside of the UK might try contacting The National Trust for Scotland through their website’s contact page.

If you’re looking for a tutorial on making a simple drawstring bag, there is a great one over at Happy Things! Bonus points if the bag is made from recycled materials!

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