Sew cute: knitters unite to help animals in Australian wildfires
Rescue group inundated with mittens for koalas and pouches for joeys
Australian bushfires that have left around half a billion animals dead have sparked a global crafting effort, as volunteers around the world knit, crochet and sew items for native wildlife.
Young marsupials, including possums, koalas and wombats, have been left orphaned by the fires, and now rely on artificial pouches to grow.
Meanwhile, older koalas need mittens for their burnt paws, while animals like flying foxes need pouches to boost their recovery, reports The Guardian.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Australian Animal Rescue Craft Guild put out a plea for hand-crafted pouches on Facebook, which has about 120,000 followers.
“It’s been going crazy,” Belinda Orellana, a founding member of the guild, told Reuters. “The response has been amazing.”
The group was originally formed a few months ago to make dog and cat beds and coats for animal rescue centres, but changed its mission to help the animals affected by the bushfires, says the New York Post.
“It’s the poor little souls that survived where we come in,” said Orellana. “Our group creates and supplies items to rescue groups and carers around the country who take in and care for the wildlife.”
The Rescue Collective, based in Queensland, has partnered with the guild to distribute items that have been donated by the public. The partnership has already been inundated with requests from rescuers for handmade pouches, says Rachel Sharples, a Rescue Collective volunteer.
“It’s not just kangaroos, it’s also baby koalas, it’s bats, and possums, and sugar gliders – all the marsupials in Australia who are used to growing up inside a pouch now don’t have a pouch to grow up inside any more,” she said.
Animals are in need of wraps and pouches throughout the year, not just the fire season, and experts do not expect the recent influx of donations to meet the demand.
Those thinking about donating should follow instructions provided by the Australian Animal Rescue Craft Guild carefully, to avoid creating items that are not appropriate for small animals because of an incompatible material or pattern.
“Australia has a lot of iconic and lovable animals,” says Sharples. “I think that for people to physically be able to create something, to physically create an item they know an animal will use, resonates with people more so than a cash donation and that is why we have set that up as an option or a way to help.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why Assad fell so fast
The Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
By The Week UK Published
-
Romania's election rerun
The Explainer Shock result of presidential election has been annulled following allegations of Russian interference
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Russia's shadow war in Europe
Talking Point Steering clear of open conflict, Moscow is slowly ratcheting up the pressure on Nato rivals to see what it can get away with.
By The Week UK Published
-
Cutting cables: the war being waged under the sea
In the Spotlight Two undersea cables were cut in the Baltic sea, sparking concern for the global network
By The Week UK Published
-
The nuclear threat: is Vladimir Putin bluffing?
Talking Point Kremlin's newest ballistic missile has some worried for Nato nations
By The Week UK Published
-
Russia vows retaliation for Ukrainian missile strikes
Speed Read Ukraine's forces have been using U.S.-supplied, long-range ATCMS missiles to hit Russia
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published