There are so many stories of adorable dogs and cats with little wheelchairs, or 3D-printed legs, or any number of heart-scrunchingly inspirational ailment accessories, that frankly, I’m starting to get fatigued. How many more puppers in mobility devices can we take before it all becomes tragically passé?
Never fear, friends. For as long as there are animals we call pets, there will be people who put them in wheelchairs. Case in point: Roo, the rescue rooster from Northern California.
Setting aside the obvious question (rescue rooster???), let’s talk about Roo’s predicament. Roo, being a rooster, and as such not the brightest of creatures, seriously injured himself by attacking another rooster in a cage. His owner, Darcy Smith, explained to ABC News:
A few weeks ago during the fires, we took in another rooster that was evacuated. That rooster was kept in a separate cage and the chicken got intimidated by him cause he was very big so he tried to fight that rooster through the cage. When he did that he broke his beak in two places and bloodied his comb he actually did damage to his head so he has swelling on his brain.
majestic creatures
Thus injured, the poor piece of poultry was unable to walk, eat, or crow – until his savvy owners enlisted the help of an apparatus designed specifically for situations like this.
A chicken wheelchair.
Roo the rescue chicken is learning to walk again with a therapy wheelchair. https://t.co/vxE1vMD0rh pic.twitter.com/V011u1D3DB
— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) November 25, 2017
“He’s able to move around in it, sit upright, and he eats a ton. He’s eating a lot of food, drinking a lot of water, and it’s just made all the difference,” says Smith.
Roo first stepped out in the Australian-made wheelchair about a week ago, and he’s already dramatically improved. His owners hope he’ll be back on his own claws in no time.
Meanwhile, everyone else is quietly losing their shit at the very notion of a wheelchair for chickens.
Roo, a rescue rooster, has a new lease on life thanks to a special wheelchair that helps him walk. Go Roo! We’re rooting for you! https://t.co/OWvyRM6UaD pic.twitter.com/rLJpNlzCPo
— ABC News (@ABC) November 25, 2017
Y’all wasted this Engineering to save a chicken when that time and effort coulda ended world hunger https://t.co/UmTFHthNVl
— ατ (@Kil_TheGreat) November 25, 2017
Back to that rescue chicken. Why didn’t they just put it out of its misery? Who made the wheelchair? Who’s coaching the chicken? Who knew they had physical therapists for chickens?
— Arugula Advocate (@PinotHeaux) November 25, 2017
I feel like I’ve now seen everything. https://t.co/w96yInPfaN
— Lauren St. Germain (@LaurenWFTS) November 25, 2017
This chicken has better access to healthcare than half of America https://t.co/dHZ3Jg8zjP
— unfriendly black hottie (@elbaddestputa) November 25, 2017
They have this warm oil massage for chickens now. It’s very effective, you remove all the features & submerge in hot grease for 10 mins 🤫 https://t.co/vUSknDkvFN
— papíto (@HalfJewish) November 25, 2017
I gotta say it: this makes no sense. Truth be told, you only need to ask that chicken one question; do you want to be a roaster, or fryer?
— Marc Saunders (@2Smuv2bme) November 25, 2017
Look, if what you want to do with your life is perform physiotherapy on a rescue rooster who literally almost killed itself by attacking a bird in a cage, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop you. Get well soon, Roo.