Meet Mrs. T, a tortoise whose life was forever changed by a gruesome rat attack. But now, Mrs. T has been outfitted with an amazing tortoise wheelchair and is reclaiming her life.
Tortoises are docile creatures, spending a good portion of their long lives sauntering around, eating greens, and, of course, hibernating. But while she was just trying to get her winter sleep on, Mrs. T. was attacked by a rat, who gnawed off her front legs to the elbow. (I know, right? WTF. Rats are terrible.)
Mrs. T’s owner Jude Ryder took the 90-year-old reptile to the vet, but it didn’t seem like her health was improving. So Ryder turned to her son, a mechanical engineer, to outfit Mrs. T with a lifesaving wheelchair. Thank you, science.
To build the wheelchair, Dale Ryder attached wheels from a toy plane to an axle that fits over Mrs. T’s shell. Now the lady can move around even faster than she did before the rat attack.
“We were afraid she may have to be put down, but her new set of wheels have saved her life,” Ryder told the Telegraph. “She has the run of the garden again and we can always find her because she leaves very strange tracks behind wherever she goes.”
There have been other cases of pets getting a second chance at mobility, thanks to the wonders of technology. TurboRoo the chihuahua was born without front legs, but thanks to the wonder of 3D printing technology, he now has a custom-made wheelchair so he can zip around town.
It’s been a crazy year for tortoises so far, with a giant tortoise making headlines earlier this month for strolling around Tokyo and another shelled-giant getting angry over his sexy time getting interrupted.
H/T Pixable | Photo via YouTube/TheTelegraph
