i found an article about a project in the past where jumpers were being knitted for penguins

'A Port Augusta woman who knits 260 tiny jumpers every year is part of an international effort to save thousands of fairy penguins threatened byoil spills in Australias Bass Strait.
Mrs Betty Gow is part of a loose collective of knitters from around theworld who make and donate the little garments used to protect fairypenguins covered by oil. Rescue teams retrieve the oiled birds from the beaches and they aretreated at the Phillip Island Nature Park Penguin Hospital. The birdsare cleaned, fed and given veterinary care before being released back into the wild.Fellow contributors from around the world provide more than a thousand of the jumpers a year, which are used to cover the birds affected during oils spills.
The penguins, which grow to around 33cm, are often covered in oil fromthe spills as they return to Phillip Island's beaches from the deeperwater of the Strait.The jumpers, when fitted, keep the penguins from preening (picking at their feathers) to remove the oil, which is highly toxic to them. Later they are used to protect them after cleaning, a process that temporarily affects the natural oil keeping the birds warm and waterproof.'