MARIANNA — A calf born with its heart in its neck is thriving on a Western Pennsylvania farm.

Tom Leech, the Amwell Township farmer who owns 6-week-old “Cardio Brisket” said he found just two instances of similar disorders during an Internet search.

A West Virginia veterinarian examined the calf and says he’s never seen anything like it. Dr. Todd Moores believes the calf was born with a defect that kept the calf’s sternum — or breast bone — from developing properly. The opening enables the heart to “flop” out into the neck.

Leech and his wife, Debbie, won’t display the animal at fairs like a “circus attraction.”