Seven Legged Calf Born

The Steamboat Pilot & Today reported this week on the birth of a seven legged calf with two spines in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

The owners of the cow were expecting twin calves to be delivered but when there were problems with the birth the cow was transported to the Steamboat Veterinary Hos­pital where a Caesarean section was performed. The cow embryos had not split properly and the calf is in fact two cows in one.

[quote]Veterinarian Lee Meyring delivered the animal, he said he’s never seen anything as extreme in all his time as a vet.

“I’ve been in practice for 14 years, and I’ve only seen one other calf with a fifth leg,” Meyring said.

“And so this one’s definitely the most bizarre I’ve seen. It’s just a twinning process that had an incomplete splitting of the embryo.”

The calf unfortunately only survived for ten minutes, but the mother is in good health. The Steamboat Veterinary Hos­pital now plan to preserve the cadaver and offer it to Ripley’s Believe It or Not or Animal Planet to display.

“We’re not going to open it up because it’s not really worth it, so we’re going to try to get it preserved,” hospital receptionist Pam Lynn told the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

“It’s the weirdest thing we’ve seen, ever ever.”

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