Help the Penguins

Let’s all say a collective aw….

A conservation group called ‘Knits for Nature’ in Australia is calling on knitters to donate small woolly jumpers for sick penguins. What an excellent idea!

Phillip Island’s Penguin Foundation uses the jumpers to help rehabilitate birds that have been affected by oil spills or similar leaks from fishing boats. The jumpers help to keep the penguins warm and also prevent them trying to clean the toxic oil away with their beaks.

I was lucky enough to visit Phillip Island, located 87 miles south-east of Melbourne, home to these ‘little’ penguins, also known as korora or fairy penguins. They are the smallest of the 17 species of penguins and around 1,000 people view ‘the penguin parade’ every night. It is the sweetest thing…one little penguin pops out of the sea, looks around and swims back to tell the others ‘the way is clear’ and then thousands of them waddle up the beach to their burrows calling out to each other. The viewing platform is built on stilts so you can see the little penguins waddling underneath on their way back to their burrows. These little fellas deserve these jumpers to keep them warm and safe so knitters get busy!

For those wishing to donate a jumper, the island’s Penguin Foundation has created a handy knitting pattern guide.