LEGO bricks are truly the reason of smile for so many kids but do you know that an Eastern box turtle in Maryland got a second chance at life all due to LEGO? The turtle was rescued from Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park and was suffering from fractured plastron. The treatment conducted at the Maryland Zoo implanted metal bone plates, sewing clasps and surgical wires in the turtle’s shell however, it remained unable to lift itself from the ground hence delaying its recovery. “We were discussing in our medical rounds that he needed to be elevated off the ground and we were thinking of ways we could do that,” Garret Fraess, a vet at Maryland Zoo discussed.
Fraess then came up with an inventive idea and after discussing it with his friend who happens to be a LEGO enthusiast, the two were able to design a LEGO wheelchair especially for the turtle. The bright and efficient wheelchair has done wonders to the turtle’s recovering health as now, it does not only lift itself up but also scoot like normal turtles. The vets will take off the implants bit by bit over the year as the turtle heals and once that is done, the LEGO wheelchair would be free and might be ready to help out another innocent animal in its struggle to live a healthy life!
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Images: © Maryland Zoo
h/t: Mental Floss