Well-heeled kangaroo a jump ahead

Press, 7 May 1983, Page 11

Well-heeled kangaroo a jump ahead

NZPA Kansas City A young kangaroo named Roo can get around like others of her kind now that a shoe has been fitted as an artificial foot. Dr Roger Brannian, a veterinarian at the Kansas City Zoo, fitted Roo with a children’s size 13 high-top sneaker after about five inches of her left rear foot was amputated last November because of an infection. “She’s tolerated it pretty well. It doesn’t seem to bother her. We’ve had her foot bandaged so she’s used to having something on it,” said Dr Brannian. It was the first time that he had fitted a kangaroo, or any animal, with a shoe. It seemed the simplest thing to do to protect the rest of the foot. • A clumsy macaw in Tigard, Oregon, is sporting two new talons, thanks to manicurists. The blue and gold bird, aged 10, named Albert, had

been missing talons on the two front toes of its right foot. Normally, birds use their nails to clutch perches and to stabilise their bodies, but Albert was starting to lose his balance and fall off. So a manicurist firm set to work with files and glue and gave Albert two new acrylic nails. 9 Freda the goldfish looked set for a watery grave until her owner in London discovered a method of curing her habit of swimming upside down — he made her a pair of miniature water wings. Now Freda, the pet of Arthur Sharlands, of Tiverton, Devon, swims normally with the help pf an elastic band and a small piece of polystyrene. “I know it sounds daft, but when you become really attached to a pet you’ll do anything to help,” said Arthur.