The American non-profit broadcasting service PBS showed a film about an extraordinary problem: how to turn a crippled animal into a bionic (a living being augmented with artificial, robotic tissue – usually a limb). Part of this unusual film – and photos from it – can be viewed on the Internet.
The documentary “My Bionic Pet” showed an astonished public what can be achieved when your love for animals is combined with practical savvy – and, to be fair, a lot of free cash.
“My Bionic Pet” for the first time on the screen showed a stunning variety of immobilized or even doomed crippled animals, which modern technology – and loving owners – turned into (well, almost) full-fledged. We can say with confidence that this film not only touches to the depths of the soul, but also strikes the imagination.
Along with a pig whose owners have attached to her a kind of stroller instead of non-functioning hind limbs – and several (quite predictable) dogs – the film features, for example, such an exotic animal as a llama (a llama is not a wild animal, it was bred for wool – like sheep are also Native Americans).
The film staggers not only the demonstrations of the achievements of robotics, but also the power of compassion and the ingenuity of people who stop at nothing to give the animal back the opportunity to live fully.
“My Bionic Pet” undoubtedly conveys the main idea – the current level of technology is already sufficient to not only give one or two swans lost beaks (and functioning ones) – it is possible to solve almost all serious problems that animals have as a result of an accident, road accident or human cruelty. It’s just a matter of people’s willingness and ability to help.
The heroes of the film, who actually gave the animals a second life, note that they are walking on an unknown land – until recently, even advanced scientists did not seriously deal with the problem of prosthetics for pets, not to mention wild animals (such as a swan!) But now we can already talk about the growing mass nature of this trend – at least in developed and wealthy countries – the US and the EU. Today there are a number of progressive companies that provide prosthetics for animals, and not only traditionally “pet” (cats and dogs) – for example, OrthoPets, which is owned by a vegetarian.
“We have to improvise because there really is nothing to work with,” says Dr. Greg Burkett, a Northern California veterinarian who successfully implanted an artificial swan beak. “For example, we had to use a Sprite bottle for anesthesia.”
Animal prosthetics is undoubtedly a big step forward in helping our “smaller brothers” – not only by avoiding killer foods and spreading awareness about the benefits of vegetarianism and veganism, but also by helping specific animals that live near us and need our support.