It was a tall order, but when Ara Mirzaian was approached by the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and asked to fit a baby giraffe with a brace, he accepted the challenge. Msituni was born on Feb. 1, and immediately, her caretakers noticed her front limb was bending the wrong way. They were concerned Msituni would not survive if this wasn't corrected, as she wouldn't be able to nurse or walk around. Msituni was 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighed 100 pounds, and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park staff decided if they were going to get her properly fitted for a brace, they needed help from an outside expert. Mirzaian has been fitting braces for 30 years, but Msituni was his first animal patient. Using cast moldings of her legs, his team made carbon graphite braces, and even added a giraffe pattern. Msituni only ended up needing one custom brace, and after 10 days, the problem was corrected. "It was the coolest thing to see an animal like that walk in a brace," Mirzaian told The Associated Press. "It feels good to know we saved a giraffe's life."
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS