Cape Town - Can things get much cuter than a 109-year-old man knitting jerseys for injured penguins?
We're open to suggestions, but we're pretty sure you got nothing.
Mashable reports that Alfred 'Alfie' Date, who lives in a retirement home in NSW Central Coast, was drawn into this unlikely hobby when Victoria's Phillip Island Penguin Foundation sent out a request for tiny jerseys after an oil spill affected the island's colony of little penguins. The jerseys are used to protect the penguins from preening their feathers and so doing, consuming any toxins.
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.
Shortly after the foundation sent out their call for penguin sweaters, two of the nurses at Alfie's home approached him to help them knit, since they knew that he was an expert knitter.
He set to work immediately, joining knitters from across the globe in an amazing effort to help the Phillip Island colony.
The centre has said that they currently have plenty of jerseys which will be worn by injured penguins and that, for now, donations are no longer necessary.
In the meantime, Alfie has continued knitting, producing scarves for friends and beanies for premature babies.
