LUCKY CLUCKER GETS PROSTHETIC PECKER!
COCO the chicken can finally eat on her own again after amazing 3D technology replaced her beak, which was ripped off in a bloody raccoon attack.
The fowl encounter with the masked bad guy happened in the backyard of the New York City apartment complex where Coco lived — and despite surviving the savage ordeal the brave bird was left with major injuries, including losing the top half of her beak.
Apartment residents rushed to the aid of the crippled chicken.
Neighbors Ariana Schindler, an artist, and designer
Robert Stinchcomb teamed up to fix the lucky clucker’s broken beak while another resident, Dora, bottle-fed Coco for six months since she couldn’t eat.
Says Ariana, “Getting Coco a new beak was necessary for her survival. An injury like that can prevent feeding, drinking, playing, grasping objects, self-cleaning, mating, nesting, and defense against predators and parasites.”
Ariana says the challenge to restore the beak “was an interesting project and I felt personally invested because the chicken lived in my yard.”
She and Robert produced a 3D model of what was left of the beak and then used virtual reality computer programs to create the prosthetic pecker.
“It took a couple times to adhere the beak properly,” she recalls. “Getting a chicken to stay perfectly still as you apply a tiny amount of glue to a very small attachment area is a new level of patience.”
Amazingly, once the manmade beak was attached, “Coco knew what it was” and jumped in front of a mirror.
"She intuitively understood her beak was back and she was excited. She is able to eat again, drink, clean herself,” says Ariana. “It’s amazing.”