Contributed by Kerry Nelson
New Musk Ox Book Alert!
The Musk Ox Farm is thrilled to announce the launch of our new children’s book, Luna's Big OXcident! The book is inspired by Luna, one of our musk oxen on the farm who lost her leg due to badly breaking it. After a year of intense rehab and recovery, it was decided that her story needed to be told to the world. So, we reached out to two local Alaskan talents to help bring Luna's story to life to celebrate her and celebrate how beautiful being different can be.
Written by P.T. Custard, with whimsical illustrations by Amanda Rose Warren, Luna’s Big OXcident is a gentle tale about differences, acceptance, and inclusion, with an important lesson for readers of all ages! Coming June 2021!
Luna’s Story
In March 2020, Luna was found with a badly broken leg. Unfortunately, the break was up too high on her leg for us to fix it, so we decided we would fight and give her a chance by amputating her leg. After a successful surgery, Luna became our first three-legged musk ox, only adding to her already robust character! The next month of healing and relearning how to walk was a hard one, with checks on her every four hours, around the clock. She received pain medication morning and night, along with antibiotics, some special treats and bandage changes.
We also made a one-of-a-kind musk ox sling! We would strap her up every day so she could stretch out her legs and start building her muscle mass back up. This also helped her figure out how to move, and where to put her weight so she would be able to walk on her own again. With a little over a month of sling work, we would find her standing all by herself, and eventually hopping around her pen! Within the past year, she has completely healed and recovered, even managing to escape from her pen, of course! She is one tough musk ox, and we couldn't be happier that she's still here on the farm with us.
Pre-Orders Now Available!
Order any one of Luna’s Big OXcident Book Bundles during the month of April and receive a copy signed by both the author and illustrator! Oh – and did we mention Luna stickers?
Head to www.muskoxfarm.org/luna to see more sneak peeks of the book and learn more!