Emily sent in a link to a story on penguin jumpers.
Jumpers are being knitted especially for the Australian fairy penguin population. The clothing is used when the birds have been exposed to an oil spill, absorbing the oil off their feathers and keeping the animals warm in the meantime.
If you’re a keen knitter, you can make a penguin jumper to add to the emergency stores. Here are knitting instructions from the Pet Porpoise Pool in Coffs Harbour, who are gathering jumpers for the cause. There is a pattern and more info here.
[The news story is 2 years old but this is an ongoing issue.] (edited to add: please read the readers comments for the latest on this)
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
The issue is actually much older than just 2 years. Here’s a FAQ from 2001.
Oh what a great idea! The Australians seem to think of everything.
I added your link to my site, hope that’s ok.
They no longer need jumpers for penguins, but are still accepting jumpers which are now put of stuffies and sold to raise money for the Phillip Island reserve.
kath … and emily … thanks so much for posting this … beautiful story and opportunity to contribute to the wellbeing of the fairy penguins even if far away from these shores … east coast usa … but with the weather that’s faring today … i can sympathize that miserable and cold is not fun even for penguins … and when humans are to blame for their state … let’s not even go there … must throw some of those little sweaters on the needles … happy days … mille baci …
Oh my gosh….poor little dudes…we gotta get knitting
Thank you, Kath. I looked into this a couple of years ago or so and they weren’t accepting any more jumpers/sweaters at that time.
I heard on local radio (Melbourne which is about an hour and a half away from the fairy penguins) in the last two weeks that they had more than enough little jumpers for the moment and were having to put the jumpers that were getting sent in on the toy penguins in the shop. They were begging for people to check with them first before starting to knit anything as this story regularly does the internet rounds and lots of people are kind enough to send something in.