Penguin Sweaters Help Those Affected by Oil Spills

A yarn store in New Zealand got a little more than it bargained for when it asked people to donate handmade knitted sweaters for penguins who were harmed by an oil spill off of the coast of Tauranga.

The Skeínz yarn store noted in an Oct. 11 blog posting that Blue Penguins, also known as Little Penguins, had been caught after being affected by the oil spill.

Skeinz has been asked to help with the penguin relief by knitting small Penguin PJ's to help protect the birds & prevent them from preening their feather & ingesting the toxic oil, a Skeinz employee blogged.

Two days later, there were more than enough.

And on Sunday, 100 more knitted sweaters were donated.

A blog post on Monday said that Skeinz would hold on to the sweater surplus for a local wildlife rescue team, should a further need arise.

Making clothing for penguins is nothing new.

When Pierre, a penguin kept at the California Academy of Sciences, was going bald in 2008, aquatic biologist Pam Schaller teamed up with wetsuit manufacturer Oceanic Worldwide to make a wetsuit for the little guy, The Associated Press reported.

I would walk behind him and look at where there were any gaps, and cut and refit and cut and refit until it looked like it was extremely streamlined, Schaller said, The AP reported.