When one is dealing with elephants, everything becomes a bit bigger, a bit more extreme—such as in this video when CPR is delivered via two veterinarians jumping up and down on the animal’s ribs like a moon bounce.
Similarly, Chhouk, an 11-year-old Asian elephant living at the Wildlife Alliance conservation organization in Cambodia, walks with a 44-pound prosthetic foot made out of recycled car tires and tow truck strapping.
Chhouk’s foot had to be amputated after it was caught in a poacher’s snare, but thanks to some $1,450 in funding every year from the Paradise Wildlife Park in the UK, the multi-ton animal gets a new prosthetic every 6-months, allowing him to walk, swim, and even run without difficulty.
“The level of care that he gets is brilliant and he has a great life now. There’s no better feeling,” said 27-year-old Cam Whitnall from England who runs the Paradise Wildlife Park and Big Cat Sanctuary with his family.
“Because he’s still growing, it needs replacing often and we’ve been sending payments to cover that. They’re made out of recycled rubber and some Velcro to tie it up,” he said. “They weigh about 20kg (44 pounds) and we actually got them to send one over and it’s sitting in my office currently.”
OTHER ANIMAL PROSTHETICS: The ‘Wizard of Paws’ Makes Prosthetics to Fit Any Animal – Lending a Human Hand of Compassion
Recently Cam got to visit Wildlife Alliance in Cambodia and found the whole setup for Chhouk was exceptional. The keepers use a little contraption to isolate his leg in order to attach the prosthetic, but as a video taken by Cam shows, Chhouk helps the process along as if he were a human putting on a shoe.
Nevertheless, he’s still rewarded at the end with a big juicy coconut.
WATCH the process here…
SHARE This Example Of Compassion And Ingenuity For Animal Rehab…