Lady Go-Go gets back on all four legs

The plight of a three-legged goat has inspired a Parisian paediatric prosthetist to create an artificial leg for the household pet of a Connemara hostel.

Lady Go-Go, who was purchased at a Maam Cross fair, lost her leg when bitten by a terrier last May.

Her owner in Roundstone contacted friend Stephanie Dick – better known as Sam – who had spent many years working on Ed Harper’s famous goat farm on Cape Clear Island.

Sam had moved to Galway and had got a job as manager of the newly reopened Ben Lettery Hostel when she took on the job of convalescing the two-and-a-half-year-old nanny goat.

“I’ve got to be frank, I didn’t think she was going to make it. I think the reason she started to thrive was people in the hostel constantly petting her as I was working at everything from reception to cleaning,” explained the native of California.

“One guy from Germany ended up staying nine days just to nurse her. We were keeping her on a dog lead to ensure she wouldn’t run away.”

It was a very slow recovery. Her stump oozed for nearly two months and she was unable to put any weight on it.

Mostly she was sitting in the one position, but gradually she regained her confidence.

By the time French guest Antoine Maitrd arrived at the An Óige hostel in late August, she was beginning to drop her hip and use the stump as a leg.

PRESS PLAY ► TO WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE FROM JOE O’SHAUGHNESSY

“I was worried then that if she started using the stump constantly she would damage her internal organs and break her hip with all the twisting she’s doing. It turned out Antoine was a paediatric prosthetist.”

He arrived back last week to try on the new colourful contraption, which has been built from recycled parts from human prosthetics.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.