Topics
- Social/Community Engagement
June 19, 2025
Fukuoka CampusSenior Assistant Professor Junji Dan created original supporters for elderly sheep at Omuta City Zoo
In May 2025, Junji Dan, Senior Assistant Professor Department of Physical Therapy at the Teikyo University Faculty of Fukuoka Medical Technology, created original supports for elderly sheep at Omuta City Zoo.
Our Faculty of Fukuoka Medical Technology and Omuta City Zoo began their relationship after a veterinarian came to us for advice at the university's festival in 2016. The faculty regularly visits the zoo, working with veterinarians and zookeepers to care for the animals and provide ongoing support.
This time, we were consulted about ways to help an elderly sheep whose walking was deteriorating due to arthritis, and we ended up creating a support.
There are no commercially available supports made specifically for sheep, so the zoo used taping to immobilize the sheep's legs, but the strength of the taping varied from zookeeper to zookeeper, which could result in over-tightening. Senior Assistant Professor Dan, who is researching human supports at our university, thought that his research could also be applied to animals, and proposed a support made specifically for sheep. After repeated minor changes, the support was completed in May 2025. This special support not only made it easier for the sheep to lift its legs and reduced the amount of dragging it caused, but also allowed it to bend its leg joints, allowing it to stand and sit freely.
Senior Assistant Professor Dan said, "Although humans and animals have different skeletal structures, how they use their bodies, and how they communicate, applying physical therapy techniques can also help animals."
Faculty of Fukuoka Medical Technology will continue to work on Community Engagement by utilizing specialized knowledge.
Click here for more information about Faculty of Fukuoka Medical Technology
Click here for more information about the Senior Assistant Professor
Related information
Click here for the Omuta Public Relations page (June 2025 issue)
