Updated

Penguins in New Zealand need a little more than their feathers to stay warm.

Skeinz, a yarn store located in the country, is asking for people to sew sweaters to keep the penguins warm as they recover from a recent oil spill, ABC News reports.

“Basically, when you get even a drop of oil on these birds, it opens up a channel so water can penetrate,” Kevin McGowan of the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology told ABC News, adding that the effect is like a hole in their wetsuit.

The sweaters will block the birds from consuming oil when they preen their feathers and keep them healthy enough until they are ready to be scrubbed down, ABC News reports.

The store has already received piles of sweaters after it posted a request on its website with instructions and knitting patterns.

A cargo ship ran ashore on Oct. 5 in New Zealand, dumping 350 tons of oil into the ocean, ABC News reports.

Click here to read more on this story from ABC News.