Disabled piglet using wheelchair becomes Internet sensation

ORLANDO, Florida (REUTERS) - Prospects for a disabled farm animal born without the use of its hind legs are normally grim.

That is not the case for Chris P Bacon, a month-old piglet from Florida whose videotaped struggle to learn how to use a tiny wheelchair have turned him an Internet sensation.

"He's cute. He grunts. And he's got a pretty cute little wheelchair," said veterinarian Len Lucero, trying to explain why his YouTube video of Chris's exploits have logged more than 474,000 views in two weeks.

After a client who could not care for Chris dropped him off at Lucero's veterinary hospital in Clermont, Florida, 48km west of Orlando, Dr Lucero grabbed pieces from a child's set of K'nex construction toys to build a tiny wheelchair to mobilise the rear-end of the pink-and-white piglet.

The piglet known across the Internet as Chris P Bacon examines his new wheelchair on the office floor of veterinarian and owner Len Lucero in Clermont, Florida, Feb 13, 2013. The piglet's hind legs are deformed and Dr Lucero had fashioned a wheelchair out of K'nex toys to help the piglet walk. -- PHOTO: REUTERS