Gore-Tex expands its customer base
Gore-Tex may be a well-known brand in the footwear industry, but it has managed to expand its customer base further… to include elephants.
The team at Gore-Tex Hong Kong recently developed special footwear for two of Singapore Zoo's Asian elephants which were suffering with problems resulting from the stress that the huge animals place on their feet.
One of the elephants, Tun, has a limp following a fall several years ago which left her with one front leg longer than the other and which has caused lesions on the sole of her foot, while the other, 30-year-old Jamilah, also has lesions on the soles of both her front feet due to swaying from side to side.
Having failed to find a treatment to help the elephants Singapore Zoo vet, Dr Sonja Luz explained: "The best solution we could think of was some type of protective boot that was durable enough for elephant wear-and-tear and possibly also waterproof, it had to be made from a material that allowed the wound to breathe to prevent fungal infections. Most importantly, it would also provide comfort to the elephant." As a result Dr Luz contacted W. L. Gore & Associates in Hong Kong to seek advice. Led by footwear specialists Raymond Lee and CK Yau, the Gore-Tex team began work on the footwear which took over 12 months to develop, culminating in the delivery of the new ‘shoes’ just before Christmas.
