Phillip the disabled duck gets a new lease of life thanks to 3D printed feet

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Find out moreClose

As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.

Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.

Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election

Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A duck who lost his feet to frostbite has been given some new ones, thanks to the magic of 3D printing.

Phillip the duck was rescued by Wisconsin teacher Vicki Rabe-Harrison, who was considering putting him down due to his walking problems.

However, after learning local teacher Jason Jischke had a 3D printer, she enlisted his help to get Phillip some new feet.

Working with his students, Jishke began desgining Phillip's prosthetic legs from flexible plastic, creating multiple prototypes before hitting upon a solution which worked.

The simple design allows the remnants of Phillip's legs to slot in the top, with flat artificial webbed feet underneath proviing stability.

Cameras were there to capture Phillip's debut waddle, and although he was a little unsteady, he did a surprisingly good job.

Rabe-Harrison told the Associated Press: "He picked it up real fast, and I'm sure he'll learn to balance again, and be able to waddle around with all the other ducks."

Jischke called his students' work a "huge accomplishment," and said he was "so happy" that Phillip had been given a new lease of life.

Phillip has now been sent to Wisconsin's Autumn Farm Sanctuary, near the shores of Lake Michigan, to live out the rest of his life with his new feet alongside a menagerie of other ducks.