Crafting for critters
Australian fires prompt global effort
Kyla Gill had never so much as touched a sewing machine or picked up a crochet hook two weeks ago. Now, she’s hooked on crafting for critters 10,000 miles away, to the point of temporarily putting aside her floor refinishing business in Pittsburgh.
“I do hard labor, so I’m rough with my hands. Sewing, knitting — that’s just completely out of my realm,” she said. “But to go to work the next day knowing that there are animals and people suffering? I just pretty much wiped my schedule clean and put my projects on hold.”
Hoping to help wildlife harmed in the Australian wildfires, thousands of crafters worldwide are churning out swaddling wraps for bats, hanging enclosures for kangaroos, and cozy pouches for wallabies and other animals.
But confusion abounds about whether the items actually are needed or will be used.
The Animal Rescue Craft Guild, based in Australia, and associated groups have told their members to pause work while they take stock of donated items. And some wildlife organizations say what they need most is money, not handmade goods. Monetary donations can help pay for enclosures and cages, medical supplies, specialized animal feed and other critical items as needs evolve over time, said Megan Davidson, CEO of Wildlife Victoria.
The unprecedentedly fierce fires in southeast Australia have claimed the lives of at least 28 people since September, destroyed more than 2,600 homes and razed more than 25.5 million acres, mostly in New South Wales state. The area burned is larger than the U.S. state of Indiana.
In Lee, N.H., 10-year-old Gibson Griffith organized an event at his church to sew dozens of bed liners for crates and cages. About 15 people donated fabric, and more than a dozen showed up to help make the liners.
In Haverhill, Kimberly McCullough had cut fabric for about 50 pouches and was about to start sewing when the confusion erupted.
“There were a lot of posts going around about stop-don’t-stop-stop-pause-keep-making-stuff, but we’re not shipping it,” she said. “So there was frustration about mixed messages, and then compounded with that, the disappointment, because everyone wants to help.”
McCullough has reached out to local animal shelters to see if they could use the items.
“It really opened my eyes to ways crafters can help other animal rescue organizations,” she said. “So, it felt better to realize, OK, I cut all this stuff out and maybe it’s not going to make it to Australia, but it might just make it to the Boston Animal Rescue League.”