Triple-Amputee Turtle to Get Prosthetic Fin

Allison, an young green sea turtle, lost three flippers to a predator attack. She is now being fitted for a rear flipper prosthesis. Her prosthetic flipper is being designed by the University of Texas' Dr. Sudarat Kiat-amnuay, and will fit over a small stump of bone on her left rear side. The 10 pound turtle could live to an advanced age in captivity with her single remaining fin plus a successful prosthesis. Currently, she is able to swim only in counter-clockwise circles and has difficulty reaching the surface of her pool to breathe.

Most turtles missing three flippers either die or are euthanized by rescuers unable to guarantee an 450 pound animal with a 100+ year lifespan comfort and quality of life with only one fin. Two finned turtles have been successfully kept in captivity, and three-finned turtles can be released to the wild. Sea Turtle, Inc. originally intended to euthanize Allison humanely. However, the baby turtle was saved after an intern at the non-profit pleaded her case and asked for a chance to nurse her back to health. She is named after one of the tourists who found her injured on the beach and called rescuers.

If Allison successfully adapts to the use of a prosthesis, she will join a small and exclusive club of amputee animals adapting to life with artificial limbs. Fuji, a dolphin living in the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, regained nearly all of her swimming ability with a prosthesis after losing her tail to disease. Barnaby, an Appaloosa horse in the United Kingdom, enjoys life with a prosthetic foot after losing his leg below the fetlock to thrombosis of the arteries. Another horse, Gideon, of Virginia, wears a prosthesis after the amputation of his leg mid-cannon bone, and lives a normal life. He's even sired a foal! Llamas have also been successfully fitted with prosthetic legs, as seen in the video below: