Austin, TX (KXAN/CNN) - A surgeon in Texas has turned an unlucky duckling into a lucky duck.

The duck named "Frankie" had a leg that was turned almost 90 degrees.

The animal's story was aired on an Austin TV newscast, and a veterinarian saw it.

The surgeon volunteered to do the surgery for a fraction of the cost. He took a wedge of little Frankie's bone out, and added a metal pin and an exterior splint to hold it all in place.

"He's going to have to have some physical therapy to stretch that joint back out because he's had it tucked for so long and that's how he's been walking on it kind of upside down like that. So we've got to retrain that joint, you know, to stretch it back out; so, and it will. It will come around because he's young and still growing like this one is, he should be just fine," said veterinary surgeon Dr. Kirk Lewis.

Doctors say Frankie should be waddling around in as little as a month to six weeks.

 

KXAN/CNN