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Oona the puffin: Your rescue update

When Oona was found 110 miles inland and desperately underweight, your regular gifts meant we could take her in. Thanks to you, we helped this tiny puffin recover – she’s now back in the wild.

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Take a look at Oona’s journey

RSPCA team members standing on a rocky shoreline during a wildlife rescue visit.

There’s a significant feeling of joy at seeing an animal go back to the wild

Ryan Walker, West Hatch Wildlife Supervisor

Cleaning her damaged feathers

With your support, we restored Oona’s waterproofing and got her feathers back in good condition.

Swimming free

When Oona was ready, we transported her to Pembrokeshire for release back into the wild.

Finding Oona

Oona was found in a Herefordshire garden – 110 miles from the coast. At only 218g, half the weight of a healthy adult puffin, this little seabird was desperately underweight but seemed bright.

Thankfully, the person who found her quickly took her to their local vet, who stabilised Oona with a special formula. They contacted our wildlife vet for guidance, and once Oona was stable enough, she came to us at RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife Centre.

Your support means we can be there for rare animal visitors like Oona. We’ve only had six puffins here in the last decade, so when she arrived, it was big news for our team!

Helping Oona get back to the wild

A seabird out of water

Puffins spend most of their lives at sea, only coming to land to breed. When Oona was rescued, she was reluctant to spend time on the water and wasn’t preening her feathers properly – both worrying signs.

For seabirds in rehabilitation, feathers can get damaged from all the handling during feeding, weighing and treatment. For a bird that spends their life at sea, damaged waterproofing is life threatening.

Restoring her feathers

Thanks to you, our oiled bird washers could carefully bathe Oona to restore her waterproofing. We gave her time on our seabird pools, monitoring her as she regained her confidence on the water.

Watching Oona get stronger

Building her up

Oona spent her days in our pools, eating plenty of fresh fish to help her put on weight. Our team watched her closely, tracking her condition, weight and behaviour as she recovered.

Each day she grew stronger. After weeks of care, we knew she was ready for release.

Back where she belongs

We carefully transported Oona to Pembrokeshire – home to some of the UK’s largest puffin colonies. We released her at the coast, and she looked strong, bathing and diving in the water.

When Oona swam off into the wild, it was because of you. Your regular gifts gave her everything she needed – from expert washing to fresh fish to a safe place to recover. Thank you for joining the rescue.

Did you know

Puffins are skilled divers, plunging up to 60 metres to catch their favourite food – fish. That’s just over the length of an Olympic swimming pool!