Here’s the usual heartwarmer to end the week. And I can’t refrain from saying this: religion and prayer aren’t going to fix a duck’s amputated foot. (Remember “Why won ‘t God heal amputees?“) But science can—and did!
From C/Net:
After Buttercup had his foot amputated in February, Garey — a software engineer by trade — started looking into options for a replacement limb. Sure, Buttercup could have a peg leg; but what if Garey could replace the entire foot?
After shopping around for a service, he found 3D printing company NovaCopy, which agreed to donate its services to helping Buttercup walk again. Together, using photos of the left foot of Buttercup’s sister Minnie, they designed a brand new left foot for Buttercup.
Because the foot needs to be flexible, the usual plastics used in 3D printing aren’t viable. Instead, NovaCopy printed a mould, which will be used to cast a silicone foot for the lucky duck, creating several iterations of the design to come up with the perfect one. It will be attached to his foot via a silicone sheath.
“This version will have a stretchy silicone sock instead of the finger trap, which will roll up on his leg, be inserted into the foot and then have a fastener in the bottom,” Garey said. “If you saw Dolphin Tail, this material is similar to the WintersGel that they used.” WintersGel is a prosthetic liner that grips the amputated limb.
(Credit: Feathered Angels Waterfowl Sanctuary)
The duck in the movie below might be Buttercup, though I’m not sure. It does, however, have an injured left foot:
h/t: Michael
” As an evolutionary biologist I see no qualitative distinction between the suffering of humans and animals—humans can just express it more emotively.”
I’m so glad you said that and I’m glad people put effort into the duck’s new foot!
I have the same sentiment. Being human themselves is the (unacknowledged) reason most people consider human suffering to matter more than that of other animals.
I’ll conduct a short survey with the questions: “Is it more important to alleviate human than animal suffering and, if so, why?” and note the answers.
A good friend of my family used to believe that people shouldn’t have pets because you spent resources on them that should go to people. Inherent in this statement is the belief that people, no matter what, are worthy of more than other animals. I countered that I valued my pets more than a lot of people and certainly thought they deserved more resources than rapists and killers. My puckish remark (for a girl in her 20s) I’m hoping influenced him as now many years later, he has a cat and a dog and I think both of his daughters have pets. 🙂
I find that people who care about animal suffering (not just of their own pets) also care more about reducing human suffering than the average.
This is brilliant. Thanks for sharing.
Now, this just occurred to me: why are you using the owl to represent you on twitter instead of the ceiling cat??
And while I am at it, why do you prefer cats to dogs? I read previously that you have good reasons. Just curious.
Jerry, if you don’t see a qualitative difference between the suffering of humans and other animals, why do you continue to eat meat?
Maybe because it tastes good?
Oy vey! So you can kill a living creature because of taste? Pathetic.
Would it be more to your liking if it was because of nutritional value?
What do you eat, then? Rocks?
Plants are living creatures, too!
The key word here is “suffering”. If an animal is raised ethically and then killed humanely and quickly then I see less of a problem. However, I believe that halal slaughtering methods should be banned worldwide since I really dislike inhumane methods of killing being used purely for religious reasons(not that that is going to happen)
Agreed — all religious ritual slaughter should be banned.
You raise an interesting point about ethical treatment and humane slaughter. Personally, I don’t see a problem with it. If someone has a family farm, treats their animals well, and humanely kills them, then that’s preferable than the horrors of factory farming.
Once saw a seagull (glaucous winged, if it matters) missing one foot. It managed quite well with just the stump, though it didn’t like putting much weight on it.
Just like three-legged dogs and cats seem to not even notice they are disabled.
I used to feed seeds to a chickadee who was missing a foot. It was branded and would eat out of your hand. Cute little thing didn’t seem slowed down at all.
As a kid, we had a one-legged parakeet. It seemed to get along fine. I doubt the same would be true with a friend’s red-bellied parrot, tho. It seems to require one foot to stand on, and one foot to hold food with.
I’ve got a regularly visiting one-legged crow which I see several times a week. Here’s a bird-forum post I made about it, with pics & a vid or two. (I need to add newer pics!)
http://www.whatbird.com/forum/index.php?/topic/85272-my-one-legged-crow/
Love it! 3D printing has the potential to be a revolutionary technology, and it’s advancing fast. Already, shapeways.com allows people to create their own designs… mostly trinkets for now, but who knows?(Just no guns, please.)
Sigh … I bet his prosthesis doesn’t cut into his stump in the same way mine does ….
THIS IS WHAT I USE [VIDEO]
It’s from Össur of Iceland ~ groovy silicone Iceross liners are v. good for sensitive stumps. Almost as good as whisk[e]y.
From the Össur site:- “Widely accepted as a superior suspension system, Iceross silicone prosthetic liners stabilize soft tissue, minimize pistoning (stretching), helping to improve circulation and add comfort”
Wonder if I can get that on the NHS …?
You can. The NHS pays for mine. I use the Selly Oak clinic in Birmingham & it’s a standard product there, but each clinic is relatively free to choose which suppliers they use, so if your clinic doesn’t carry it you can put in a request for it & fight your corner. Failing that get your consultant to refer you to another clinic.
Another advantage of silicone is the skin pores are eventually blocked & thus no sweat inside the liner ~ a great boon in summer.
Hmmm I go to Wolves .. Will ask there…
I wear an Iceross liner and my pores have not closed. I suffer from profuse sweating during the summer and thus it is less comfortable.
Excessive sweating inside a silicone liner is mostly caused, for most people, by a poorly fitting skin/liner & liner/socket interface.
A loose fit causes:-
1] Micro climate:- Regions of *tropical weather* air next to the stump. This is microbe heaven ~ one skin scratch & you have a sore. Ideally [impossible] there should be no air pockets at all
2] Friction:- Akin to wearing flip-flops on a long hike ~ the looseness will eventually cause chaffing > skin cuts > infection > swelling > sores > pain
You might want to try ALPS Prosthetic Antiperspirant [AP] ~ it has twice the amount of aluminium chlorohydrate as retail APs & doesn’t have the skin irritating chemicals found in most AP’s. Apply it to the skin & inside of the liner. A friend of mine uses an ordinary roll on
It helps to….
** be underweight
** not seesaw in weight
** be generally active
** keep the skin & liner scrupulously clean [disinfected] or one ends up with a degree of trenchfoot 🙂
Also check out the *Christian* in the comment section of the Youtube video I linked to:-
These people are shameless & utterly *tone deaf* leaving their slime trail all over the internet. I would bet good money s/he’s not an amputee & went away from commenting feeling righteous, warm & tingly ~ the Lord’s work.
And those amputees who never had a leg? Will the leg that they never even had be restored? Yup … those bible bashers are vile …
They really have no shame.
Not true!
They do have a leg to stand on!
…if this duck had a choice? …had a choice?!?!
(ducks)
Reblogged this on Beacon of Aquarius and commented:
Posted by Beacon of Aquarius June 28 2013
Great story!
I wonder how long it will take for this technology to be used to create human naughty bits for play
Oh I’m sure that was done before anything else!
Lucky duck indeed.
In this particular case it was the patient who was the quack
What a great example of geeks using their awesome genius powers to spread goodness-without-god all over the place!
Wonderful story.
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