NAVI MUMBAI: This is no flight of fancy. A Greater flamingo found injured in Nerul’s NRI wetland, whose left leg had to be amputated, could soon take to the skies again.Makarand Saraf, a lecturer from Mumbai’s All India Institute of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and his team have successfully fitted a prosthesis on the adolescent bird.
However, since the artificial leg only enables it to walk, not fly, the team’s next goal is an improvised prosthesis that will help it take wing.The bird, suspected to have got its leg entangled in a fishing net or nylon fishing line, was first spotted by wildlife photographer Abhijit Chattopadhyay, who alerted forest officials led by Vikas Bairagi. After initial treatment, it was released back into the wetlands on May 15.
But with it hovering around the same spot, the team decided to give it a prosthetic leg to help it move around.With Dr Anil Gaur, director of the institute, green-signalling the project, Saraf, Chattopadhyay and Bairagi took measurements for the prosthesis on May 17 using a plaster of Paris cast but abandoned a foam impression after noticing the bird’s distress from human contact.Two firms then stepped in. Amit Mukerji, director-special projects at Otto Bock Healthcare India Pvt Ltd, supported prosthesis fabrication, while Rushabh Shah of Podiapro India Pvt Ltd provided the inner lining material, with technical inputs from Bhoomiksha Rathore.
The team redesigned the leg from a closed-foot to a single-toe open foot with side support to solve buoyancy challenges and fitted it on July 6. The artificial leg has improved the flamingo’s balance, mobility and its survival chances. A July 19 check showed no fitment or skin issues.Saraf said, “The carbon fibre impregnated with a matrix of acrylic resin (carbon fibre used in manufacture of aeroplane parts and F1 racing cars) helped keep the prosthesis light, strong, waterproof, and durable – suitable for a wading bird’s lifestyle.”