(Photo: John Nyberg)

Australia's oldest man Alfred "Alfie" Date is 109-years-old, but he is still doing his part to protect some of the world's most vulnerable creatures - penguins!

The Penguin Foundation Organisation started the "Knits for Nature" programme after an oil spill heavily threatened the lives of Philip Island's 32,000 little penguins. The birds were covered in oil and they thought of putting sweaters on them to minimise the amount of oil they ingest while preening themselves.

According to the foundation, the substance also affects the penguin's feathers, thus keeping it from regulating its temperature and reducing its buoyancy in the water.

When two nurses from a retirement home heard about the programme, they told Date how he could help. "I'm a sucker. I can't say no," he told the Huffington Post.

Date knitted the "easy single-rib and double-rib" wool sweaters for the penguins together with other volunteers.  The support the Penguin Foundation Organisation received was so overwhelming that the wildlife clinic at the Phillip Island Nature Park now has more than enough sweaters to protect the baby penguins should another oil spill occur.

"We warmly thank all knitters who have donated so far, your time and effort is very much appreciated and greatly valued by us and all our staff who work closely with these special birds," the foundation wrote.

While the "Knits for Nature" programme is ongoing, the foundation is now calling on other ways people can help save penguins, such as penguin adoptions.