TZVIKA: THE TORTOISE ON WHEELS
Tzvika, an injured female tortoise, walking with the aid of her newly attached wheels at the Wildlife Hospital in the Ramat Gan Safari near Tel Aviv, Israel.
Tzvika was run over by a lawn mower and suffered severe damage to her shell as well as a spinal injury that affected her ability to use her rear limbs.
The wheels, attached by veterinarians at the safari, elevate her to keep the shell from being worn down and enable her to walk.
LEMON PIE: THE DOG WITH PROSTHETIC LEGS
Pay de Limon (or Lemon Pie) happily walks again on his two front prosthetic legs at the Milagros Caninos (Canine Miracles) rescue shelter in Mexico City.
Members of a drug gang in the Mexican state of Zacatecas chopped off Limon’s paws to practise cutting fingers off kidnapped people, according to the shelter’s founder, Patricia Ruiz. Residents of the city of Fresnillo found Limon in a dumpster, bleeding and legless. After administering first aid, they managed to take him to Milagros Caninos, an association that rehabilitates dogs that have suffered extreme abuse.
The prosthetic limbs were made at OrthoPets in Denver, United States, after the shelter was able to raise over US6,000 (RM22,000).
MACHO: THE HORSE WITH A PROSTHETIC LEG
Macho the horse enjoying a meal in Bombay, apparently quite comfortable with his artificial leg. An animal welfare group discovered Macho on a highway, bleeding from a leg wound.
Doctors had to amputate his right front leg; a month before this picture was taken, he was given this prosthetic and is now able to move well with it.
HOPE: THE TERRIER ON A WHEEL
A Yorkshire terrier named Hope shows off her uni-wheel attached to a doggie vest in Colorado. Hope is missing one limb and couldn’t walk much or very far until she was fitted with the wheel attachment.
KITTEN ON PROSTHETIC WHEELS
This little one is just eight months old but has had a hard life already.
In November last year, the kitten fell from the ninth to fifth floor of a building in Chongqing municipality, China; it underwent four major surgeries, which included removing parts of its organs, and lost the ability to use its rear legs — until the veterinary hospital in Chongqing came up with this prosthetic two-wheel device and fitted it earlier this month.
FUJI: THE DOLPHIN WITH AN ARTIFICIAL TAIL
A keeper holding an artificial tail fluke attached to female bottlenose dolphin Fuji, estimated to be 37 years old, at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Motobu town on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
Fuji lost 75 of her tail fluke due to an unknown disease and faced death but can now swim and jump using the artificial fluke, which is believed to be the world’s first artificial fin for a dolphin; it was developed by veterinarians and Japan’s largest tyre maker, Bridgestone Co.
MOTALA: THE ELEPHANT WITH A PROSTHETIC LEG
A 48-year-old female elephant named Motala walking on her newly attached prosthetic leg at the Elephant Hospital in Lampang province, north of Bangkok.
Motala’s front left leg was maimed after she stepped on a landmine at the Myanmar-Thai border in 1999.
She had been a working elephant before the accident, moving logs, and had been wandering through the forest looking for food on her lunch break when she stepped on the mine. She could not move comfortably until 2006, when she received her first artificial leg; it was 2009 before Motala received her first permanent prosthesis — it had taken a tremendous effort to construct the limb as there had never been one made for an elephant before. Since prosthetic legs must be changed according to weight, Motala recently received this new one.
CHRISTMAS: THE DOG ON WHEELS
In Minsk, Belarus, Christmas the disabled dog helps out at a charity event to match homeless dogs and cats with prospective new owners, organised by the Public Association for Animal Protection (or Egida).
Photo: Reuters
0