"The Wild World of Animal Prostheses"

As an animal lover I really enjoyed this article. I love hearing about humans that will go to far lengths to try and help animals in trouble. Before reading this article I knew a little bit about how they were trying to create prosthetics for animals, but I thought it was more for dogs and cats. I was amazed to hear about Motala the elephant and Stumpy the kangaroo. Hearing about wild animals being helped really caught my attention. I was wondering if the prosthetic would cause these animals any trouble when they are released back into the wild. Would they be able to move as fast to get away from predators? What would happen if it would break or fall off? I would like to hear more about how these animals are doing once they are released back into the wild. While I was reading this article I was thinking about my friends dog, Daisy. She was hit by a car and lost one of her legs. She walks around on three legs perfectly fine and seems to be happy. Thinking about domestic animals getting prosthetics, I was questioning whether it was necessary or not. I understand that animals from the wild may need these prosthetics to survive, but do our pets need them? Pets have their owners there to take care of them and help them adjust to losing a limb and they don't have predators they need to worry about. Is spending thousands of dollars on a prosthetic really necessary when the animal can survive without it and be perfectly happy and mobile? I'm sure there are cases where the prosthetics could come in handy, like if a pet lost more than one leg and couldn't walk without the prosthetic. In that case I can see why you would spend the money too help your pet. If your pet can walk and is perfectly happy even missing a leg, is the money and surgery worth it?