Dudley the Duck was living in an animal shelter with his
brother and several chickens when several months ago some of the chickens
decided to attack the ducks. They killed
Dudley’s brother, and damaged his leg severely enough to require amputation of
the foot and part of the leg. While
Dudley could still swim around, he had a lot of trouble getting around on land,
and it even caused him to be the victim of more ‘animal bullying.’
When Terence Loring heard about this, he decided to see what
he could do to help. Terence is a
mechanical engineer and architect, who also happened to know quite a bit about
3D Printing. He worked with a local
firm, Proto3000, who agreed to allow him to use their 3D printer for free.
They scanned Dudley’s good foot, and made a mirror image to
ensure it would match up well in size and shape. A simple structure that consisted of an
upper-leg, a lower-leg, the joint and the foot was printed off and attached to
Dudley. After some getting used to, he
was able to walk around with ease. The
foot was made from a flexible rubber-mimic plastic, which help ensure easy
placement and walking.
When interviewed, Loring said “He has a little friend, a pot
bellied pig called Elsie that pushes him around. When he got his leg, the first thing he did
was go push the pig around. You can
really see the excitement that he can move around”
He continues to make adjustments and improvements to the
leg, and is printing new versions as the duck grows. Given that the process was relatively simple
and inexpensive, Loring hopes he will be able to help other animals in the
future. He has even published the 3D
files publically so anyone can download them and use them to help animals in
their own area.
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