South Africa: Amputee Goose, Ozzie, Receives 3D Printed Leg Prosthetic

IMTS

Share this Article

3D-Bunny-Logo-chrome-1024x482While we come across so many scientific, complex stories regarding 3D printing every day, much of it based around transforming industry, helping to save lives, and working as a general catalyst for improvement, it’s very inspiring when we get to write about innocent animals who are able to receive a better quality of life. Since animals and pets obviously can’t ask directly ask for help themselves, it’s up to us to pinpoint their needs—and to take the initiative for them—making for a very sweet story when all those elements fall together, resulting in assistance with innovations such as 3D printed animal prosthetics.

Geese are waterfowl that, as a rule, spend their day foraging and grazing for food. Sometimes considered ornery and even pesky in suburban areas, Ozzie the Goose is certainly anything but that. With pure white feathers and an innocuous, mild honk, you can see why animal rescuer Sue Burger, of South Africa, not only nursed him back to health but went to the added—and extensive—length of procuring a 3D printed leg for Ozzie.

goo

After breaking a leg, Ozzie’s limb was fully amputated, saving his life but also causing a great amount of struggle in locomotion, bringing devastation to the rest of his body as he overcompensated, resulting in broken wings and more. Burger, rather than going the route of euthanasia to quell Ozzie’s suffering, took to the airwaves in a plea for help for Ozzie. After some coordination, a very impressive group was assembled to help Ozzie, to include:

Goose-Foot-Concepts-2-1024x819Burger was certainly able to assemble quite a team for helping little Ozzie with a new leg, but she would need it, as very few bird prosthetics have ever been created. BunnyCorp, which did have the previous experience of designing human prosthetics, began with the preliminary work of measuring the leg and setting up fitting times and then moved on to making the initial 3D design, which was sent to Hybrid Advanced Geometries for 3D printing.

In quite the momentous occasion, Ozzie was fitted with his initial leg on April 3rd, but did experience some confusion regarding the sudden appearance and feel of the artificial limb, as some time had passed since the amputation. He will require physical therapy, but is actually walking on the leg. The team is keeping an eye on his progress and this first iteration of the leg to see how Ozzie does before they actually go to CRPM to have his final, permanent nylon prosthetic leg 3D printed. The final 3D print is expected to be extremely durable and long-lasting for Ozzie, who should be out foraging in the green grass again soon.

Do you know of any animals or pets that could use a 3D printed prosthetic? Do you know of any individuals using them? Share with us in the 3D Printed Goose Prosthetic Leg forum thread over at 3DPB.com.

one

two

Share this Article


Recent News

Stoke Space Deploys Solukon’s Automated Depowdering for 3D Printing Reusable Rockets

How Desktop 3D Printing Can Help Your Small Business



Categories

3D Design

3D Printed Art

3D Printed Food

3D Printed Guns


You May Also Like

10 Stunning Pieces of 3D Printed Fashion Defining the 21st Century

Fashion’s visionaries never stop exploring new horizons, blending the latest technology with classic elegance. This tradition of innovation is not new. Historically, fashion icons pioneered the use of contemporary technologies...

Anouk Wipprecht’s Latest 3D Printed Dress Can Read Your Mind

Dutch FashionTech designer Anouk Wipprecht never fails to amaze. With a firm belief that fashion should have microcontrollers, her astonishing 3D printed dresses do everything from light up and attack...

3DPOD Episode 166: 3D Printed Shoes and the Big Pictures with Nicoline van Enter, CEO of Footwearology

Nicoline van Enter, a seasoned figure in the realms of footwear and trend forecasting, has taken her expertise to Footwearology, where she leads training and workshops for those eager to...

Stratasys 3DFashion Platform Used to 3D Print Stunning Vehicle Interiors

Italdesign, a leading engineering and design firm with particular expertise in the automotive industry, announced that it is using the Stratasys 3DFashion platform to print interiors for the company’s latest...