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Let’s face it, Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (WFAS) co-founder Jenny Brown and Albie, a playful white goat who arrived at the 23-acre facility a year ago after he was found wandering the streets of Queens, couldn’t be more different. But in one remarkable way, they are very much alike. Both are amputees and both have artificial legs made by Erik Tompkins of Prosthetic and Orthotic Associates, which has offices in Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Monticello and Middletown.
Albie is not the first animal for whom Tompkins has made a device. Seven years ago, the certified prosthetist (limbs) and orthotist (braces) was sought out by the owner of a 25-year-old horse in need of a brace. And several colleagues within his seven-member professional practice have, at times, been called to the aid of an animal with special needs since veterinarians are not routinely trained in such services.
Given Tompkins’s professional relationship with Brown – she has already helped raise $11,500 for Albie’s medical expenses at Cornell Veterinary Hospital through a “Run for Albie” at last year’s New York Marathon – it is also unlikely that Albie will be Tompkins’s last four-legged, feathered or floppy-eared patient.
With more than 100 live kill markets in the New York Metropolitan area, Albie was probably an escapee in search of greener pastures when he was picked up by a New York City Animal Care and Control crew last year. The indentations still on his legs when he was turned over to the local sanctuary indicated he had been hog-tied, a standard method of restraining live animals who are being transported from such markets for slaughter or possibly even sacrificial purposes, according to Brown. About eight months old and very sickly by the time he reached Woodstock, Albie’s front left leg had been seriously injured by the rope. The resulting infection was so progressed the animal was taken to Cornell where part of his hoof was amputated. Still, the wound refused to heal and Albie’s leg had to be amputated above the knee joint.
Brown had cared for amputee goats before while working at the Watkins Glen-based Farm Sanctuary, the first and largest farm animal sanctuary in the nation, as preparation for opening the local facility here. “I felt confident Erik would be able and willing to help since he had fitted me with the most comfortable leg I had ever had,” she notes.
Named for the late humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, Albie had been happily hobbling about on three legs following his surgery but Brown says it was only a matter of time, until his remaining front leg became compromised from the weight. His prosthesis would be based on one used for a goat at the Farm Sanctuary: essentially the bottom of a cane attached to a cushioned socket, giving the mild-mannered goat something of a peg-legged pirate’s air.
In its ingenious simplicity, Albie’s artificial leg couldn’t be more dissimilar to Brown’s high-tech, state-of-the-art design. But both recipients require extreme flexibility of movement to accommodate their active lifestyles.
Raised in Louiville, Ky., Brown had lost her right leg to cancer when she was 10 years old. She had slashed her leg on a rusty swing set and about nine months after the injury, began experiencing pain and then numbness in the area. When X-rays showed a fuzzy mass, she was taken to an orthopedic surgeon who did a biopsy exactly at the site of the old scar and found the cancer. Brown is convinced the illness was a direct result of the earlier trauma.
In order to keep her knee – which would ultimately make walking with an artificial limb much easier on her – Brown had to undergo two years of difficult chemotherapy, causing her to remain at home for the fifth, sixth and start of the seventh grades. For company, she was given a calico cat she named Boogie, whom she credits for helping her to begin seeing animals “as individuals” and “wanting to know more about them.”
Brown was already a vegetarian by the time she moved to Chicago to study film. Waiting tables at the Chicago Diner, one of the country’s oldest vegetarian restaurants, she met a number of individuals associated with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Brown turned a school project into a documentary on a PETA demonstration that involved burning fur coats to attract media attention and raise awareness. PETA requested use of the film and invited Brown to become further involved.
Bunny tale
One moment that stands out in her memory was an advertising awards ceremony in 1992 at which Gillette, a company that tested its products on animals, was to be honored for a high-tech commercial. Brown had infiltrated the party and went to the building’s basement, where a huge rabbit’s costume was waiting. Its eyes and fur had been retouched to resemble the effects of Gillette’s testing. On the way back up to the event, singer Tony Bennett, who would be performing, got on the elevator. Bennett assumed Brown was part of the show until she ran out of the elevator screaming, “Gillette tortures animals” and throwing leaflets to the crowd that had assembled for cocktails.
Over the next year and a half, Brown did a variety of film-related projects for PETA, including undercover footage of catheterized horses kept in captivity and continually pregnant at a facility that collected equine urine for the manufacture of Premarin, a hormone-replacement drug. Her first-ever footage was aired in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Brown’s husband and WFAS co-founder Doug Abel, a film editor, says his wife leads such an active life – although her routine is considerably tamer today at the sanctuary – he often forgets she has an artificial limb until he sees it standing alone in the house.
After meeting Brown a year and a half ago, Tompkins evaluated her prosthetic needs. Given the more than 100 rescued farm animals at the sanctuary and the educational and fundraising efforts in which she is engaged, she clearly needed an artificial limb that would accommodate her lifestyle and would not be made using animal materials. Tompkins created an elevated-vacuum design in which Brown’s leg is held on by suction. As Brown puts weight on the prosthesis, her leg is drawn in and a vacuum is created. It would require 1,000 pounds of force to break the suction, according to the prosthetist, although Brown can easily loosen the seal by removing a protective sleeve.
Horns of a dilemma
Brown’s leg cost about $19,000. Albie’s was made by Tompkins pro bono. The goat’s prosthesis is based on a basic clamshell design in which the limb is sandwiched between a front and back, and a strap is wound around it to hold it together. While this has been adequate for the amputee goats at the Farm Sanctuary, Albie has a considerable amount of soft tissue over his skeletal anatomy that prevents the leg from staying on by itself, according to Tompkins. Albie will have to wear a harness that will wind over his shoulders and attach to the device, keeping it in place.
Tompkins has completed and fitted the prosthesis and the harness will be attached in a week or two. The task was not without its challenges. While he describes the goat as “somewhat cooperative,” he concedes the animal “doesn’t want any part of a prosthesis,” and he had to position himself carefully and stay focused at all times.
“When you are working on the front leg of a goat, your head is near its head,” he says, pointing out that Brown’s husband got a black eye not long ago and could easily have lost his eyesight in the eye after Albie slammed one of his horns into Abel’s face. “I had the fear in me,” says Tompkins,
Still, he claims to enjoy “doing these kinds of projects.” Tompkins also organizes support groups for amputees throughout the region on a pro bono basis and has worked for a Shriners Hospital in Louisiana.
“I felt compelled to help her [Brown] and her cause,” he says. “She is constantly asking for funds to keep her farm afloat and I can feel that struggle because what I do for a living is help people.” Plus, remarks Tompkins, “It sharpens my mental pencil.”
As for Albie, Brown describes him as “inquisitive” and “super affectionate.” Says the sanctuary director: “He likes to be doted on and will stand by you forever. He loves contact with other people and animals.”
She believes that what the sanctuary has done for animals like Albie is no different from what most pet owners would do for their “beloved companion animals.” Says Brown, “Farm animals are just as deserving of our compassion. When an animal wants to live, you can tell, and we do whatever we can to help them. We’ve spent hundreds of dollars on chicken surgery. All of the animals here are on an equal playing field.”
(Area residents interested in learning more about the amputee support groups Erik Tompkins has organized throughout the region may contact him at 339-4775 at the Kingston office of Prosthetic and Orthotic Associates, 103 Hurley Ave.)
