Photo: Courtesy Nolin River Wildlife Sanctuary
Odd couple Benton theGreat Pyreneesand Boone the disabled raccoon are best friends helping each other make it through life with a positive attitude.
The duo lives at Nolin River Wildlife Sanctuary in Glendale, Kentucky — a sanctuary dedicated to nursing wild animals back to full health.
Courtesy Nolin River Wildlife Sanctuary
“From the first time they brought Boone to class for the kids to meet him, they were fully on board. It’s pretty neat. Most of the time, you’re trying to get kids involved and engaged. Well, we had to reign them in because they were so excited,” Key says of the enthusiasm for the project.
Over the past few months, Boone regularly visited the high school so the engineering students could measure the raccoon for fittings and make adjustments to their prototypes. After a bit of tinkering, the students came up with a wheelchair — their third prototype — that worked for Boone.
“It’s amazing! The look on Boone’s face when we first put him in it … I was crying. He gets really engaged and gets a very purposeful look, and when he first moved in the chair, you could see him looking like this is different, and this is good,” Key says of Boone’s reaction to the custom creation. “He is absolutely adorable and unbelievably sweet, and now he can get around on his own.”
Now that Boone is free to move on his own, Key says he loves steering his wheelchair into the mud and playing in puddles under the watchful and caring eye of Benton the dog.
Key adds that while the goal at the sanctuary is always to release injured animals back into the wild once they’ve fully recovered, that’s not possible with Boone because he depends on his new wheelchair to get around.
RELATED VIDEO: Mini Horse Walks Again Thanks To Wheelchair
“He couldn’t survive like that, but he’s pretty happy here. He’s neutered, and so he’s just so sweet, and he gets more attention than any other animal here from all the volunteers,” Key says of life at the sanctuary. “Watching him get around now with the chair … it’s just adorable.”
source: people.com
