Animal with Prosthetics

When animals meet with misadventure and lose limbs or other body parts, it is often the end of the road for them. But here are some cases where someone went the distance and fitted animals with mobility aids and prosthetic so they can still get around, eat and perform vital functions!

in some cases animals are benefiting from techniques developed for human beings. And in others they are pioneering new techniques that humans might benefit from in the future. It just goes to show that medicine and research, like compassion, provides benefits for humans and other animals alike.

There are even specialist in making animal prosthetics like Orthopets and Orthocare.

Oscar lost his hind legs to farm machinery. And he is a really cutting edge cat, because Oscar's prosthetic legs are not attached to his body externally, the are bonded directly to his bones.

The techniques Oscar is pioneering may eventually lead to the development of human prosthetic that can protrude from or be covered by real skin so they are increasing similar to a real arm or leg. The most difficult aspect is making an artificial material that skin can bond to so no seam or wound is left that can acquire an infection.

Motala the elephant lost her leg to a land mine in 1999 in Thailand. She was working as the lumber moving elephant when she was left to forage for food and wandering into a mined area.  For ten years she got by on three legs--no easy task for an animal of this size. But then a state of the art prosthetic legs was made for her.

Thailand has the world's only elephant hospital and the prosthetic was made by a company that makes human prosthetic.  It is great to see so many people going the extra mile. It was people who planted the land mine that injured her, and so people should do whatever they can to help her recover and lead the closest thing she can have to a normal elephant lifestyle.

See also:

• Midnite--mini-horse (2011)
  

In 2005 the Oriental White Stork is extinct in the wild, so Taisa is a very important part of his species' hopes for survival. So his caretakers were very concerned when he broke his beak and began to waste away.

So his caretakers at the Omoriyama Zoo created a new beak from resin and attached it with dental glue. The White Stork captive breeding program began to release new storks into the wild that same year, begin the fragile process of pulling this beautiful bird back from the brink of extinction.