Thursday 23 January, 2025

P-p-p-pick up a... penguin jumper?

There was a huge influx of special jumpers knitted for penguins after a New Zealand yarn store made an appeal online for the protective clothing.

Oct 21st 2011, 2:13 PM 849 Views 5 Comments

A little blue penguin is been dried by a rescue worker after it swam in a water pool during a cleaning session to get rid of fuel oil from its body at the wildlife facility in Tauranga, New Zealand

Image: Natacha Pisarenko/AP/Press Association Images

WHAT IS THE best way to protect a penguin from the after effects of an oil spill?

Knit him a jumper.

A call was put out for people to knit jumpers for penguins affected by the oil spill off Tauranga in New Zealand – and the response was huge.

New Zealand wool store Skeinz made the appeal in its spring newsletter for the little jumpers to be made for penguins affected by the Tauranga oil spill - it even provided instructions and measurements.

So successful was its appeal that it managed to gather enough jumpers, and then some.

The call for penguin jumpers made international news and the Skein staff were delighted.

The wool helps stop the penguins from preening themselves and possibly swallowing any oil on their feathers.

A small number of blue penguins have been affected by the spill and will now benefit from the tiny items.

Any leftover jumpers will be kept by the Wildlife Rescue Team to be used if needed.

Read: NZ teams rush to clear oil from grounded ship before it breaks apart or sinks>

About the author:

About the author

Aoife Barry

@sweetoblivion26

aoife@thejournal.ie

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P-p-p-pick up a... penguin jumper?

There was a huge influx of special jumpers knitted for penguins after a New Zealand yarn store made an appeal online for the protective clothing.