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Peninsula group knits sweaters for injured penguins
Saturday, April 8, 2000
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEQUIM -- Knitting sweaters for penguins?
It's no joke, say members of the North Olympic Shuttle and Spindle Guild, who are cranking out tiny wool sweaters as part of an international relief effort for fairy penguins affected by an Australian oil spill.
The spill soiled the penguins' home on Phillip Island, southeast of Melbourne, in early January. The oil is believed to have been dumped by an unidentified ship at sea, the Australian government said.
The oil has rendered ineffective the penguins' natural insulation. In addition, they are ingesting toxic material as they preen, making the sweaters useful for both warmth and protection from poisoning.
The birds stand only about a foot tall -- less than half the size of their emperor penguin cousins -- and the sweaters are only about 9 or 10 inches long and a little more than 4 inches wide. Each sweater has openings for the birds' flippers and head.
"They look so cute," said guild member Pat Gallup, who heard the call for knitters to help the penguins on a Canadian radio station and researched the issue on the Internet before enlisting the help of guild members on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.
"You can just see their heads and little flippers sticking out," she said.
The guild, which is dedicated to preserving traditional textile crafts, soon will have a box of pure wool sweaters ready to send to Australia. Synthetic materials can't be used because they would not retain the birds' body heat sufficiently.
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