Prosthetic limb fitted to African parrot
Date: Feb 21, 2008
A parrot who likes to say “bloody hell” will have more cause to be cheerful now that he’s being fitted with a prosthetic device for his missing leg to help him sleep by University of Salford experts.
George, an African grey parrot, who lost his leg when attacked in his aviary by a wild animal 18 months ago, has been having trouble sleeping as he has to balance on one leg all night.
As a result, his owner Sheila Weare, contacted Dr Glyn Heath of the University’s Institute for Health & Social Care Research who runs Lacerta - a company that specialises in fitting prosthetics to animals.
Glyn has designed a specially moulded slot that will be fitted to George’s perch so that he can rest his injured leg in it at night and get some much-needed rest.
Glyn said: “While I’ve worked on dogs, rats and even a panda, George is my first bird. He’s quite a challenge as he’ll be more difficult to train than a dog. But with the simple solution of the slot, I’m hopeful that we can give him a little more comfort.”
George’s owner Sheila from Onneley near Crewe is hopeful that George can now have a better quality of life. She said: “You can tell by the way he fidgets that he’s not comfortable and he has to bite the bars of his cage at night to balance. I’m really happy that Glyn has agreed to take him as a patient.”
As for George, his vocabulary is limited to “bloody hell”, “good morning” and “good night.” But with his new prosthetic giving him a decent night’s sleep Glyn hopes, it’ll be the last phrase he’ll be using most often.
You are invited to come and photograph Glyn as he fits George with the prosthetic device this Friday 22 February at 12.30pm. To register your attendance, please call the press team.
Ends
Notes to Editors
Photos of Dr Heath are available in high resolution on request, in addition to other University of Salford photographs.
For more information on prosthetics and orthotics at Salford, please go to www.healthcare.salford.ac.uk/prosthetics/.
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For further information or photographs contact:
Jamie Brown / Rachel Conway
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The University of Salford
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