In Nebraska, there was an artisan named Gene Fleming who loved to invent unusual designs to help animals. For example, in 1959, he managed to invent convenient cow scratchers, with which the animals could not only scratch their sides without pain and discomfort, but also apply insect repellent to their skin.
And in 1988, Gene met Andy, a goose living on a relative’s farm. Fleming decided to take the goose with him and develop prosthetic devices for it. The fact is that Gene was engaged in the development of children’s prosthetic devices in his spare time.
So it seemed realistic to him to design something similar for the bird as well.His attempts, however, came to nothing. Andy was uncomfortable with his prostheses and kept dropping them. Suddenly Fleming had an unexpected idea: What if he tried adapting small children’s shoes to fit a goose?
This time his plan worked. What’s more, rumors of an unusual goose wearing boots began to spread farther and farther until they hit the press. Andy quickly enough won everyone’s attention and became America’s favorite.
And Nike provided this strange bird with Nike sneakers for life – the goose managed to wear out a pair of shoes in a month. Andy was finally able to live a full life and do all the things he was deprived before – to run, fly and even swim.
Andy’s story has helped a lot of people with disabilities accept themselves for who they are, start using prosthetics and finally love life.
Today, there is still a tradition in America of shoeing geese into children’s shoes. This is most often done to protect the paws of the birds from damage.