Tag Archives: oceans

Eudyptula minor Bruny Little . This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Yes, the title of this post is correct.

Little Blue Penguins  need sweaters.

I am sure you are asking yourself ‘why in the world would a penguin need a sweater?’

I asked myself the same question when I first read about the penguin sweaters.  The answer really is logical. I swear.

Early this month a Liberian cargo ship ran aground in New Zealand. That one ship created an oil spill that devastated the pristine beaches of the area.  It has played havoc with the local plant, fish and wildlife population.

The wildlife includes the which is the smallest of  the penguin family.  Now these birds need penguin sweaters because they get oil in their feathers and try to clean it out which poisons the small birds.

From our friends at Care2;

About 350 tons of oil have washed ashore on the pristine beaches near Tauranga. Over 1300 sea birds have already died. As of this writing, some 1,400 tons of heavy fuel oil are still on the ship. Rough seas continue to hamper the salvage efforts.

Among the victims are New Zealand’s Little . When they come ashore covered with oil, they need sweaters immediately. When they try to clean their feathers, they ingest toxic oil. The knitted coverings keep them from preening until they can be cleaned.

So Skeinz, a yarn store in New Zealand, has put out a call to knit sweaters for the birds Australians call “fairy penguins.” The instructions are online, as well as the address for sending the penguin sweaters (called “jumpers” in the southern hemisphere). You can check out a photo of the winsome creatures in their sweaters here.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/knit-a-sweater-save-a-penguin.html#ixzz1cD2IXdrL

It looks like these ocean birds will have warm and cute sweaters to wear until they are released into their habitat.  I wish all animals who are in need could get the same response from kind people all over the world.

But then, when I stop to think about it, animals really do get a lot of help.  It just never seems to be enough, does it?

From Grist dot org;

UPDATE: Skeinz, the yarn shop that posted the patterns, said they have achieved critical mass of jumpers. We’re both happy and sad about this. But they do say that they’ll stockpile sweaters if you’ve got one ready to go — or you can stockpile them yourself, in case oily penguins show up in your hometown.

Wow.  People really love penguins.  I hate to say this but there will be a need for penguin sweaters again because oil spills are going to continue for the foreseeable future.  But these little look so very cute in their sweaters, I find myself wishing the  little birds could wear penguin sweaters for better reasons. You know, as always, its the Awwwh factor.