NATTY Knitters have helped p-p-p-perk up penguins caught in oil slicks by making them little woolly jumpers
Staff at Knight's of Reigate have got to work using wool donated from the Bell Street department store's stocks.
When a member of staff heard the little birds needed pullovers to keep them safe after oil spills in the southern hemisphere, she leapt into action.
In less than a month, nine members of staff and three customers had knitted 21 tiny pullovers and sent them off to the Penguin Foundation, in Phillip Island, Australia.
Nadine Simmons, who works in the store's linen department, masterminded the scheme.
She said: "The idea of knitting jumpers went crazy, everyone just went mad for it."
She added: "One of our colleagues heard about the penguins on the radio and she knew another one of us is a big fan of penguins, so she told me to look it up online.
"When I told Ursula – who loves penguins – she said she would knit the jumpers, then other people heard us talking about it and they said they would get involved."
Word of the knitting spread through the store and the ladies' work soon caught the eye of shoppers who were eager to help out.
"We knit on the shop floor," Nadine explained.
"People ask what we are doing and when we tell them they want to get involved. I think it's the fact they are for penguins and they look so cute in the jumpers."
She added: "When I tell people I am knitting for penguins, some of them do look at me like I'm mad."
The Penguin Foundation has rescued between 800 and 1,000 penguins following environmental disasters in the last three decades.
After an oil spill, the birds need a hot bath to clean their feathers, but with so many often affected, there can be a backlog. While waiting, the birds can be poisoned by the oil, which they ingest while trying to preen their feathers. But the jumpers not only stop the birds preening, they also help absorb some of the oil.
Danene Jones, of the Penguin Foundation, said: "Knitters across the world seem to really enjoy participating, with many saying it's a great way to pass knitting skills onto new generations."
Managers at Knight's have donated more wool to the cause and the knitters are planning on sending a second set of jumpers soon.
