Lundy removed rats; puffins rose from 13 to 1,335 and seabirds topped 40,000
Once teeming with life, the small island of Lundy off southwest England fell victim to invasive rats in the late 1990s. Puffin numbers plummeted to just 13 breeding pairs, while many seabirds abandoned the island. In 2002, conservationists launched an ambitious rat-eradication project that transformed the island's ecology. More than two decades later, the impact is clear: puffin numbers have soared to 1,335, and over 40,000 seabirds return each year to nest on Lundy's cliffs and burrows - a striking recovery from the brink of collapse.
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