[ale] OT, saving penguins [Fwd: ... in their favourite football team colours.]

[Wandered Inn]

glen mccready wrote:
> 
> Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev at sleepycat.com>
> Forwarded-by: Daniel V Klein <dvk at lonewolf.com>
> Forwarded-by: "Opheim, Carrie" <OpheimCJ at MSX.UPMC.EDU>
> Forwarded-by: Anu Mukherjee [mailto:anu.mukherjee at bbc.co.uk]
> 
> Monday May 21, 11:16 AM
> 
> Australia's penguins all rugged up for oil spills
> 
> SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's fairy penguins are all set for winter and any
> oil spills after 1,000 tiny woolly jerseys were specially knitted and sent
> from as far away as Japan to the Australian island state of Tasmania.
> 
> The jerseys, which cover the 40 cm (15 inches) tall penguins from neck to
> ankle, stop oil-coated penguins preening themselves and ingesting poisonous
> oil.
> 
> And for the fashion-conscious penguin there is a wide choice of colours and
> designs, even a black and white tuxedo numbers complete with bow tie.
> 
> The Tasmanian Conservation Trust made a local appeal earlier this year for
> the penguin jerseys after oil spills on the coast of Tasmania, not realising
> they would be inundated.
> 
> "They have come from everywhere, even as far away as Japan.    Someone in
> New York asked for a pattern, but we haven't received it yet," Jo Castle, a
> spokeswoman for the Trust said on Monday.
> 
> The pattern is based on one used for penguins in the northern hemisphere,
> only smaller. "It was re-designed for the little penguins in the southern
> hemisphere," said Castle.
> 
> "They (the penguins) are not very happy about them, but they cover them from
> neck to ankle which stops them preening themselves and ingesting poisonous
> oil," she said.
> 
> Castle said knitters, many old ladies in nursing homes, made jerseys in
> their favourite football team colours, used scraps of wool to make patchwork
> tops, and some knitted woolly tuxedos in keeping with a penguin's natural
> colours.

--
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at denali.atlnet.com

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds.
The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit
to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his
intelligence." - Albert Einstein
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