As General Election chaos continues to swirl, what better way to navigate the stormy seas of politics than with an ark-ticle full of animals in cosy knits?
Ride out the waves with us, dear reader. Ride. Those. Waves.
1. Jersey Cows In Jumpers.
A farmer in Jersey has adorned her herd of cows with matching Christmas jumpers. Farmer Becky Houzé has dressed her “girls” – called Carol, Holly, Mary, Noelle and Mariah Dairy (!!) – in festive knits. Just because.
They are (apparently) making history as the first herd of Jersey cows to wear matching Christmas jumpers. If this isn’t the greatest advertisement for visiting Jersey, we don’t know what is.
2. Elephants In Rainbow Woolies.
When temperatures plummeted near the northern Indian city of Mathura, locals in a village near to an elephant sanctuary began to produce colourful knitted garments to help keep them warm. How nice is that?!
3. Dog In A Wintery Jumper.
There isn’t a heartwarming backstory to this other than LOOK HOW CUTE THIS WEE DOGGY IS. His name is Finn and he’s an Irish stray adopted from Manchester Dogs Trust nearly three months ago. He’s settling into his new home – and collection of jumpers – pretty well.
4. Penguins In Chunky Woolies.
These knitted jumpers don’t just look good – they can actually save lives.
According to Australia’s Penguin Foundation, if these birds swim up to oil spills, their feathers become toxic so that when they go to preen themselves, they’re at danger of ingesting the oil and dying. It also damages their feathers, which exposes their skin to cold temperatures.
At the Phillip Island Wildlife Clinic, staff put jumpers on the oiled penguins temporarily to stop them from ingesting oil. They are asking knitters to support the penguins by donating 1,400 penguin jumpers. (If you want to knit some, you can request the pattern by emailing info@penguinfoundation.org.au.)
5. Tiny Animals In Tiny Knits.
There’s not much to say other than: squeeeeeeeeeeeee.
6. Ponies In Heritage Sweaters.
Flashback time to when tiny Shetland ponies Fivla and Vitamin became local celebrities after featuring in a Visit Scotland tourism campaign in 2013. Bless. The aim was to show a “softer, more cuddly side to Scottish locals”, reported the Telegraph at the time. Here’s hoping the human Scottish locals didn’t take offence.
7. Hens In Swanky Tank Tops.
A lovely lady in Cornwall has knitted tank tops for her chickens. It turns out they used to be battery hens and therefore have fewer feathers, so they feel the cold a bit more than their freerange friends.
“It’s important to make people aware of the poor conditions the hens live in and the fact that they have no feathers when they are retired,” Nicola Congdon told Mashable. “The tank tops are also something really different that provide some fun for the chickens. They keep them warm and makes the chickens easy to identify.”