Photo: AP Images/Associated Press
You can’t make these things up.
Jenni Ryall writes at Mashable, “Australia’s oldest man has spent a lot of his days knitting sweaters for little penguins. Alfred ‘Alfie’ Date spoke to 9 Stories about how his inability to say ‘no’ to favours got him into making the miniature animal clothes.
“The jerseys were requested from Victoria’s Phillip Island Penguin Foundation in 2013, to assist the survival of little penguins after an oil spill. Little penguins are a species of penguin only found in southern Australia and New Zealand, with a lone colony of 32,000 remaining on Phillip Island.
“The 109-year-old, who lives in a retirement home on the New South Wales Central Coast, was asked by two nurses to help make the sweaters, as they had heard he was an experienced knitter. It was a request he could not refuse. Using heavy wool provided by the nurses, Alfie put his 80 years of knitting skills to good use and got to work. …
“When oiled penguins arrive at the foundation, they are given a jacket to wear so that they don’t consume the toxins or preen their feathers. In 2001, 438 penguins were affected in an oil spill at Phillip Island and by using the knitted outfits, 96% of the penguins were rehabilitated at the clinic, according to the foundation’s website.”
More at Mashable, here.
Photo: PINP/AAT Kings/Spotlight/Rex Feat
Penguin sweaters worn by stuffed toys at Phillip Island.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
How adorable and positive is that?!? Thanks for sharing such a beautiful story. Love the penguin with a penguin-logo sweater 😊😊
It’s an appealing story in so many ways, Besides, sweaters for penguins, you have the retirement-home staff who thought of the elderly knitter, and then you have his enthusiasm for the project. I could go on. Bad things happen, and good people try to make things better.
Absolutely! So many good things in this post! 😊