Images of the Day--How to Clean a Little Penguin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TAURANGA, NEW ZEALAND - OCTOBER 18: Penguins swim in a clean pool after being washed of oil at the Tauranga Wastewater Treatment Wildlife Facility on October 18, 2011 in Tauranga, New Zealand. Salvage crews continue to pump oil off the ship in an effort to remove as much as possible before bad weather predicted for the evening threatens to break the vessel and release more oil into the sea. Over 300 tonnes of oil has leaked from Rena since it hit the reef on October 5. (Photo by Hannah Johnston/Getty Images)

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How can you save a penguin from an oil spill? Knit him a sweater!
Last week, a New Zealand yarn store put out a request for knitters of the world to unite and put together "penguin jumpers" for the birds affected by the ongoing oil spill in Northern New Zealand, according to ABC News. Skeinz, in Napier, was soon flooded with little sweaters.
The sweaters serve a dual purpose of keeping the penguins warm until rescuers clean them and preventing the birds from cleaning themselves while they are coated with poisonous oil, reports MSNBC.
According to the Associated Press, the oil spill, which began after a cargo ship ran aground on October 5, has already left 1,300 birds dead and already cost New Zealand $3.2 million for cleanup.
New Zealand's 3 News reports that the Wildlife Centre in Tauranga, near the site of the oil spill, has received dozens of penguin sweaters and is no longer asking for any more.

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