Clinic Update

Last week, the pager team got an unusual call. Animal control brought in a raccoon that had gotten stuck in a sewer grate. They weren't able to remove him from the grate when they found him, so they brought in the entire sewer grate! The grate itself probably weighed over 70lbs, so we had to wheel it (with the raccoon still stuck) down to the ward on a gurney to attempt to get the raccoon free. After some shaving, pulling, pushing, twisting and lots of lubricant, we separated the raccoon from the grate. The animal seemed uninjured, but we kept him under observation for a couple days to make sure he was fit to go back to the wild. We released him over the weekend after determining that he had sustained no injuries from his ordeal.

Settling into the School Year

Life in the wildlife ward has settled down a bit since school began. All of the teams have been assigned, team leader training is over and now we're back to just concentrating on treating our patients. We have orphaned squirrels and bunnies in the clinic, as well as several turtles (more than usual), a goose, a woodchuck and an orphaned jumping mouse.

The residents are doing well. Nokomis has taken to hooting as everyone who walks into the resident room lately. The birds we supposed to go to Oskee Bow Wow last week, but unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. They have two events coming up, though. First, on September 21rst, the will be going to the opening of a forest preserve (more details to follow). Then, on September 27th and 28th they will be at Prairielands Feeds in Savoy. We hope to see some of you at an event soon!

Orphaned Jumping Mouse (only 4.5grams!)

Goose with external fixator receiving foot treatment

Red-Eared Slider

Cleaning up an orphaned squirrel

Welcome Back!

Students have returned to school (and the wildlife ward) this week. Team leaders have already taken over cases, and the first mandatory WMC team sign up and orientation meeting is on Wednesday, August 27th at 7pm.

Clinic Update 6/4

The warm weather has brought quite a few patients to the clinic in the last two weeks. We've seen robins, grackles, red-tailed hawks, an orphaned mallard duck, a young Canada goose, bunnies, squirrels, raccoons and a woodchuck! Many have already been treated and released or sent to rehabbers, along with the snapping turtle and turkey that had been with us for awhile. The most interesting current cases include a red-eared slider with a fractured shell, two fawns (one that had surgery to repair a fractured calcaneus!), and a juvenile bald eagle.

The resident birds also attended an event at Washington Early Childhood last Saturday. The school had a carnival themed open house, and lots of students and their parents stopped by to see Nokomis, Noel, Pistol and Odin up close. As always, we enjoyed coming out and talking about the birds and what we do at the WMC.

Feeding an Orphaned Fawn

Woodchuck

Juvenile Bald Eagle
Juvenile Bald Eagle in Radiology