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Pullovers perk up penguins
KNITTING nanas are helping penguins p-p-p pick up a pullover.
The tiny jumpers will save the lives of stricken penguins across the globe.
The woollies for endangered wildlife – which come in different styles and colours – are the creations of pensioners Miriam Whittington and friends Jen Evans. Evelyn Nichols who have spent weeks knitting for the endangered Australian fairy penguins.
The women, all from Seaham, are part of an army of kind-hearted volunteers who have given up their time to helping thousands of birds affected by oil spills on the Australian coast.
Between them Miriam, 79, from Union Street, Jen, 84, from Dawdon Crescent, and Evelyn, 76, who lives in Ilchester Street, have created almost 50 jumpers which will be sent to the Penguin Rescue Fund in Hampstead this weekend, before being shipped out with hundreds more to Tasmania where conservationists will put them to good use.
Gran-of-three Miriam said the women, who are all members of St Hild's and St Helen's Church group, first heard about the scheme through Jen's niece Elizabeth Evans who was keen to get them involved.
She said: "Jen's niece told us about it because we all enjoy knitting, so when this opportunity came up we decided to help.
"It's been good fun and it's for a good cause so we were happy to get involved."
Thousands of the jumpers, which cover the one-and-a-half foot high penguins – also known as little blue penguins – from neck to foot, have been specially knitted, based on a pattern provided by the Tasmania Conservation Trust.
The penguins live on a small set of islands near a shipping route and are often hit by oil slicks and have to be rescued, cleaned and nursed back to health.
But cleaning the birds robs them of the natural oils that keep them warm, so the jumpers are needed to protect the penguins from the cold as they re-oil their feathers.
They also stop the birds preening themselves and swallowing the toxic oil, before their feathers get washed.
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Weather for Sunderland
Thursday 09 February 2012
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