It wasn’t a far-fetched concept after all.
A Long Island high-school whiz is helping a three-legged shelter dog find her forever home — by creating a prosthetic leg that will let the lucky pooch live a normal life.
Southampton High School robotics club leader Sarah Barros, 16, was so driven to help Tryla, a friendly pitbull mix, get adopted more easily that she even raised the money to produce the 3D-printed limb herself.
“She deserves a good family to be with,” the high-school junior told The Post.
“I feel like a lot of the reason she’s not adopted is because people see too much management, too much hassle,” Sarah said. “I don’t think that’s fair because she is who she is — and she can’t change that. So anything I can do to change that, I am happy to.”
Tryla, 6, is believed to have lost her leg after being hit by a car as a much younger pup. She was brought to the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation two years ago by an owner who could no longer care for her.
As time passed without her being adopted, a volunteer at the Hampton Bays facility had a game-changing idea in November.
“I remember seeing a video of high-school students in Arkansas creating a prosthetic foot for a duck,” said the volunteer, Susan Dennis. “I thought we could do that here, and I reached out to the high school right away.”
With the help of a classmate, dog-loving Sarah — who excels in science, technology, engineering and mathematics classes — couldn’t wait to get started, even though it initially meant going above and beyond outside the lab.
“We don’t have a lot of money to be spending on projects,” she said of the school’s robotics club, which was founded last year.
“We sent out emails to everyone, parents, went around after school talking to all the teachers, we went to town a few times and talked to some store owners,” said Sarah, who made pamphlets to sway local investors.
The club successfully raised $300 for materials including resin and thermoplastics to 3D print Tryla a new front leg at the school. All that remained was Sarah taking measurements from the pooch’s other paw and the circumference of her nub during three visits to the shelter.
Of course, getting the dog to remain still for that took some effort.
“You have to sit with her for a while — you have to give it a good hour, give her a few treats,” Sarah said of the energetic and positive pooch.
This week, Tryla’s device was freshly molded and fitted onto her for the first time. More than anything else, it has given the cheerful dog a new opportunity to be taken home, Sarah said.
Sarah said she will be able write about being able to make such a positive change in her upcoming college essay now.
“She was really inspirational to me,” Sarah said of Tryla. “I think the impact that both the community and STEM have for something both so simple and very big is crazy.”
