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Flamingo fitted with prosthetic leg

A Chilean flamingo stands with the help of a specially-made prosthetic leg at a zoo in Sorocaba, Brazil, Tuesday. (Associated Press)
Associated Press
A Chilean flamingo stands with the help of a specially-made prosthetic leg at a zoo in Sorocaba, Brazil, Tuesday. (Associated Press)

SOROCABA, Brazil – A pink flamingo in Brazil has gotten a new leg to stand on – an artificial one.

The 6-year-old Chilean flamingo at the Sorocaba zoo fractured his left leg a month ago.

“To prevent an infection from setting in and spreading to the rest of his body, which would have killed him, we decided to amputate the leg and give him the prosthesis,” said the zoo’s veterinarian, Andre Costa, who performed the surgery on the bird.

Costa said it’s unknown how the bird’s leg was injured, but that “perhaps one of the clumsy pelicans that share the enclosure crashed into him or he was attacked by one of the crowned cranes.”