Handicapped Tent Caterpillar

It's tent caterpillar time! You should be seeing these fuzzy critters crawling around right about now. Our state is home to the Eastern Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma americana). They start building their "tents" in early spring, using those sites as home-bases, and remain in larval form until early summer, when they build cocoons. They then emerge a couple weeks later as moths.

The other day I found a specimen on the concrete below the porch in the backyard. However, it wasn't moving very well. In fact, it could hardly advance an inch. On closer examination, I discovered why: one of its legs was longer that its counterpart on the other side. Heaven knows how it traveled at all.

**Remember: Don't use pesticides against these creatures unless they pose a serious problem. If you can tolerate the abundant silk, the damage to foliage, and the high traffic, or if you are not experiencing these things to a great extent, please refrain from killing them. They rarely kill the trees they feed on, even if they do strip them of leaves. They are simply doing what God created them to do. 

A few references (there are many on the Web):
http://bugguide.net/node/view/558
http://facultyweb.cortland.edu/fitzgerald/Easterntent.htm
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef423.asp
http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/eastern-tent-caterpillar
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/eastern_tent_caterpillar_m.htm