Injured Animals Keep Moving with Prosthetics
Hoppa
Hoppa, a four-year-old mixed breed dog born without front legs, uses a prosthetic device to walk outside in the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv February 28, 2010. The device was invented especially for Hoppa by a animal-loving art student, who hopes his wheeling device will improve the lives of pets born with abnormalities or with amputated limbs. (Photo by Amir Cohen/Reuters)
Naki’o
Naki’o, a mixed-breed dog with four prosthetic devices, goes for a run in Colorado Springs April 12, 2013. Naki’o lost all four feet to frostbite when he was abandoned as a puppy in a foreclosed home. (Photo by Rick Wilking/Reuters)
Yu
A 25-year-old female loggerhead turtle named Yu swims after receiving her 27th pair of prosthetic flippers at the Suma Aqualife Park in Kobe, western Japan February 11, 2013. Life looked grim for Yu, a loggerhead turtle, when she washed up in a Japanese fishing net five years ago, her front flippers shredded after a brutal encounter with a shark. Now keepers at an aquarium in the western Japanese city of Kobe are fighting to find a high-tech solution that will allow the 25-year-old turtle to swim again, with years of labours and 27 models of prosthetic fins behind them without success. (Photo by Reuters/Suma Aqualife Park)
Oscar
Oscar the cat, which had its hind legs severed by a combine harvester, stands in this undated handout. Two-year-old Oscar can walk again after being fitted with prosthetic limbs in a world-first operation. Oscar was given a pair of artificial limbs by veterinary surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick, using a technique developed by a University College London team. (Photo by Reuters/Handout)
Motala
A 48-year-old female elephant named Motala walks on her newly attached prosthetic leg at the Elephant Hospital in Lampang province, north of Bangkok August 16, 2009. Motala’s front left leg was maimed after she stepped on a landmine at the Myanmar-Thai border 10 years ago. (Photo by Phichaiyong Mayerku/Reuters)
Cici
A seven-year-old disabled cat named Cici is helped to walk by a device as she participates in “Cat Show 2002” in the western Turkish city of Izmir, December 29, 2002. Cici was disabled in a traffic accident two months prior. (Photo by Reuters)
Chris P. Bacon
Chris P. Bacon, pictured February 12, 2013, at Eastside Veterinary Hospital in Clermont, Florida, was born without the use of his hind legs. Last month, the pig’s owner turned the piglet over to a Clermont vet who decided to help the little guy. Dr. Len Lucero took the pig home and made a wheelchair for him using toy parts. (Photo by Tom Benitez/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)