| 2014年03月06日(木) | ペンギンにニットを！ |
Wanted: knitters to create jumpers for little penguins
Conservation group calls for donations of small knitted jumpers for birds who have been caught in oil spills
Are you a knitter? Do you like penguins? Phillip Island’s Penguin Foundation needs you.
The penguin conservation group is putting a call out for people to donate small knitted jumpers for penguins who have been caught in oil spills, or leaks from fishing boats and the like, to wear while they are rehabilitated.
Lyn Blom, receptionist at the Penguin Foundation, told ABC News the organisation rehabilitated about 20 penguins a year, and any spare jumpers were distributed to other rescue groups.
“If somebody puts oil into the sea … a little penguin swimming along pops up to the surface and finds out he’s come up in a circle of yukky stuff,” Blom said.
“The first thing he wants to do is get to shore because he loses all of his waterproofness.”
She said penguins became very cold and waterlogged when the sea water seeped in towards their skin. A ranger or member of the public could then take them to a rescue organisation such as the foundation.
A jumper prevents a penguin from cleaning oil from its body with its beak, and keeps it warm until conservationists can release it back into the wild. The little penguins, which live mainly around the coast of Victoria, are not as immune to the cold as their southern cousins.
The penguin jumper program began in 2001 after an oil spill left 438 penguins needing treatment.
The Penguin Foundation provides a knitting pattern for people wanting to contribute.
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