Turkeys need powerful legs to survive. “They rake the ground with their paws to look for worms, seeds and grains. With only one leg, the animal is not stable and cannot continue to live normally,” Johan Vreys of Pairi Daiza’s communications service told VRT NWS.
So the animal needed a prosthesis. Wesley Michiels and his company Pet Orthopedics from Nijlen (Antwerp) designed these for Tagliatelle. They previously also made prosthetics for dogs, cats, goats and alpacas.
Tagiatelle got her new leg on Boxing Day. The procedure was performed under anesthesia. She will now have to recover well and also have to do exercises to get used to her prosthetic leg. This will happen among other animals in the tropical greenhouse Oasis.