Animal Lovers

When disaster strikes, the wildlife clinic at the Phillip Island Nature Park will be ready, equipped to deploy hundreds of tiny wool sweaters at a moment’s notice. Not tiny sweaters for people, but penguins — knit by a group of volunteers that includes Alfred “Alfie” Date, who at 109 years of age is Australia’s oldest man . Date smiles with a tiny wool sweater he knit for a penguin. Date told Australia’s Ninemsn he started knitting the “easy single-rib and double-rib” sweaters shortly after moving to a retirement home in southwest Australia. After learning he could knit, two nurses who knew of the “Knits for Nature” program  approached him to gauge his interest, Date said, adding, “I’m a sucker. I can’t say no.” In the event of an oil spill near Phillip Island’s 32,000 little penguins , wildlife clinic workers put oil-covered birds in sweaters to minimize the amount of oil they ingest while preening themselves. According to the Philip Island Penguin Foundation, the  substanc