Residents of the small Icelandic village of Borgarfjörður eystri experienced a brief but bewildering internet outage yesterday when a flock of puffins removed several brightly colored surface markers associated with an undersea communications cable.
The markers—lightweight, buoyant, and apparently irresistible—were discovered missing during a routine systems check. Technicians dispatched to the shoreline found the buoys scattered along the cliffs, some pecked, some dented, and one perched triumphantly on by a puffin later described as “deeply self-satisfied.”
Satellite logs confirmed that the undersea cable was never damaged, but the disappearance of the markers triggered an automatic safety shutdown. The outage lasted nearly three hours, during which villagers reported mild inconvenience, moderate confusion, and one heated debate about whether puffins should be considered “employees” if they interfere with telecommunications.
Local wildlife authorities emphasized that puffins are naturally attracted to bright, floating objects, especially those resembling fish or novelty toys. A spokesperson asked residents to “exercise patience” and reminded them that puffins “do not understand international data infrastructure, though they may believe they do.”
Engineers have now replaced the stolen markers with less enticing matte-gray models. Early reports indicate the puffins have ignored them entirely, choosing instead to investigate a fisherman’s rubber boots.
