The Australia-based Penguin Foundation has put in a request for knitters from all over the world to make sweaters for penguins that have been caught in oil spills. The pint-sized knits not only keep the penguins warm, but they also prevent the birds from rubbing their beaks against their oil-covered bodies.
Just because you haven’t seen a major oil-spill story in the news lately doesn’t mean animals are completely safe. Lyn Blom of Phillip Island Nature Parks says that even without big spills they regularly find oil-covered penguins who may have been contaminated by something as small as a fisherman “clean[ing] out a container or something while they’re at sea.”
If you’d like to give these Australian penguins some Baltimore love, there is more information at the Penguin Foundation website. You can find knitting patterns here.
Actually–there is another side to this story.The Great Penguin Sweater Fiasco:
http://www.giantflightlessbirds.com/2011/10/the-great-penguin-sweater-fiasco/