This poor, unfortunate pup with a baffling six legs was found stranded in a parking lot last week.
Eleven-week-old Ariel — inspired by Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” due to her fused limbs that mimic a siren tail — was found deserted in Pembrokeshire, Wales, shocking her kind rescuer by having an extra set of hind legs, as well as an additional vulva.
The pooch was taken to Greenacres Rescue in Haverfordwest and evaluated at the local Fenton Vets.
“When Ariel was brought into our center, she was very scared and timid,” Greenacres Rescue’s manager and founder Mikey Lawlor, 42, told the BBC.
“She spent that first night at home with me, and she was almost completely shut down due to everything she’d been through.”
Luckily, he doesn’t think little Ariel was alone for long — it had been raining the day she was discovered, but her coat remained dry, and she didn’t seem starved.
X-ray imaging revealed that Ariel’s extra hind legs are conjoined on the right side of the spaniel’s tail, described by Lawlor as “essentially one thigh bone” that split into two shins at the knee.
But the extra legs, which don’t function, caused Ariel’s pelvis to be deformed and her “normal” right hind leg to lack adequate muscle tone, which may result in its removal.
“So the plan now is to give Ariel a month to get over her ordeal and settle into life with a foster family, during which time we’ll monitor her and see how she gets on,” he said.
Thankfully, the pooch’s internal organs function as normal.
“We have no idea why she would be born with a defect,” he told Newsweek. “Never seen this before.”
The animal rescue organization has raised more than $2,400 for her future surgeries as more than 200 generous people have offered to adopt Ariel. However, the rescue agency currently is not taking official applications for the prized pup.
The Post has reached out to Greenacres Rescue for further comment.
However, Ariel’s story is not necessarily unique – in 2021, Skipper, a miraculous Aussie and border collie mix, survived birth with six limbs and two tails, defying scientific odds and making history as the first of her kind.
Skipper had “two pelvic regions, two lower urinary tracts two reproductive systems, two tails and six legs,” among other rare health disorders and spina bifida, a congenital defect of the spinal cord.
Unlike Ariel, all six of her limbs were functional at the time of birth; however, she reportedly died later that year. At the time, the vets thought Skipper was a product of a failed embryo split in utero, despite only having one head and chest.
