A disabled duck is lucky to be the first recipient of prosthetic foot this week.
Joel Graves, 3D printing engineer of NovaCopy, chose to give Buttercup a normal life by granting him a new webbed foot prosthetic printed using 3-D printing technology.
NovaCopy was approached by Feathered Angels Waterfowl Sanctuary in Arlington, Tenn. to help a disabled duck which they named Buttercup. The duck was born last year in a high school biology lab and had a backward left foot as a birth defect. The veterinarians decided to cut his foot last February because it would bleed whenever it walks. Now the duck is having a difficult life walking with an amputated foot and the people from the waterfowl sanctuary believe that the duck wouldn’t survive this dreadful condition.
"When he would walk outside, his leg would start bleeding," Mike Garey from the sanctuary said in an interview with USA Today. "I knew Buttercup would be better off as a peg-leg duck than a duck with a disabled foot."
Garey had been searching for companies which could provide Buttercup a prosthetic foot when he stumbled upon NovaCopy which offers 3D printing services. He chose it because of its quality high-resolution technology.
3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is a process of making three-dimensional object of any shape using a digital printer. Materials are being layered until it achieves the model of the output needed.
Garey designed the foot which will be the prototype of Buttercup’s foot. He also prepared the materials and gave it to the company on Wednesday. They also took Buttercup’s measurement to ensure that the prosthetic will fit perfectly.
The mold was completed last Friday and is most likely to set after 16 hours. Everyone involved in the project hopes to have Buttercup wear the prosthetic by Sunday afternoon. This will help the duck walk and swim again like a normal duck would.
