Bald Eagle in the News!

In case you missed the WMC on the news this evening, here's a couple of links:

WAND Stormcenter 17

WICD ABC 15 :: Top Stories

The Many Roles of the Resident Raptors

Many of you who are familiar with our resident birds of prey from the Wildlife Medical Clinic know them from the Public Relations events they do throughout the community. Although helping to teach people about wildlife and wildlife safety is a very big part of the residents' job, these five special birds also play another role in the clinic. Occasionally, they help to save the lives of very debilitated patients by serving as blood donors. This was the case a couple weeks ago, when the very rare event of having not just one but two patients that needed transfusion occurred. The first patient that presented was a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus). This owl was lying sternal, or on its belly, when it came in, which is a sign that a wild animal is feeling very ill. She was emaciated, having almost no muscles on the breast bone, where the large flight muscles are normally found. Blood work showed the owl was also very anemic. Winter is very hard on raptors, and it is not uncommon for hawks and owls to come in to the clinic this time of year suffering from similar symptoms, though this Great Horned Owl was especially weak.

Normal fluid therapy was not going to be sufficient in such a debilitated patient, and after conferring with the doctors, it was decided to have Nokomis, our resident Great Horned Owl, serve as a blood donor to give the patient the best chance for survival. Nokomis was anesthetized to collect 10mL or about 1% of his blood volume, which was then slowly transfused to the new owl through a special line with a filter to remove any clots that may have formed.

Just as the transfusion in the owl was being finished, another patient arrived at the clinic. This one was a juvenile Red Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis )that had almost identical problems to owl. Once again, the decision was made to perform a transfusion to give the starving hawk the best chance of survival. Odin, our 13 year old resident Red Tail, served as the donor this time. It was a very late night before everything was completed, but over the next few days both transfusion patients improved, beginning to stand on their own and look more alert. Both Nokomis and Odin did very well after donating their blood, and each received extra TLC to thank them for their contributions! To meet Odin, Nokomis, or any of our other resident raptors and to learn more about wildlife, visit our main website to schedule a PR event for your group. http://vetmed.illinois.edu/wmc/pr_visits.html

Getting Ready to Place an IV in a leg vein for the Red-Tailed Hawk

The Great Horned Owl Resting After the Transfusion

Red Tailed Hawks

We are surrounded by Red Tailed hawks in the ward right now. Our case load has begun to slow down as the weather has gotten cooler, but we currently have 3 Red Tailed hawks in the ward. Two of them have ulnar (wing) fractures and one has a fractured tibiotarsus (leg). Each of their fractures is being managed differently, which is really interesting for us veterinary students.

Team 1's RTH with a tibiotarsal fracture


Team 3 giving their hawk an IM injection

Snapping Turtle

Godzilla is a Snapping Turtle that presented to the clinic on September 28th with a fractured carapce (the top portion of the shell.) The team decided to get radiographs (x-rays) to evaluate the fracture and the possible lung damage. (A turtle's lungs sit right up against the top of their shell.) While looking at the radiographs, the team found another problem with Godzilla. He had a fish hook somewhere inside his body! Godzilla had surgery to remove the hook, and his shell fracture is beginning to heal. Hopefully, he'll be able to be transferred to a rehabilitation facility soon.
Godzilla's Radiograph from September 29th

Snapping Turtle Surgery



The Fish Hook Removed from Godzilla

Gozilla with Members of his Team

Godzilla on October 14th (You can see his shell fracture in this photo.)

Barred Owl

This owl presented on August 10th. She was lethargic and had blood in both of her eyes. The summer team started fluid therapy and gave her antibiotics to prevent any secondary infections and anti-inflammatory drugs to minimize inflammation. We took a blood sample, and she had a drastically low white blood cell count (leukopenia), as well as electrolyte imbalances. At first, we were unsure whether she would be able to recover. Since then she has gradually grown stronger and more active. The ophthalmology department has also been monitoring her improvement. Two weeks ago, we discontinued all of her medication and she continued to improve. She is definitely visual and her ophthalmologic exam is more normal. Her white blood cell count has risen to within the normal range, and she is more aggressive and eating normally. At the end of last week, we decided she had improved enough to go to a wildlife rehabber, and on Saturday, members of Team 1 drove her up to the Illinois Raptor Center. She was released to a transitional cage with another Barred Owl and will hopefully be back in the wild very soon.

Barred Owl in the Ward

Barred Owl at the Illinois Raptor Center

Illinois Raptor Center photos courtesy of Amanda on Team 1 ; )

Bald Eagle Release!

Yesterday, we were able to release the juvenile bald eagle!

According to one of the leaders on the team in charge of her case: "She was in good body condition, blood work was all normal and she was eating well. We wanted to release her quickly so she didn't need to be reconditioned for flight. A staff member from the Illinois Raptor Center came out, jessed her up and flew her outside of the teaching hospital so he could assess her flight. He gave her a good assessment and told us we could release her. We took her to back to Danville and met with a biologist for the conservation service in Danville. He took us to the location where she was found. We released her away from the sanitation plant right by a river. We could hear eagles calling while we released her. This sanitation plant takes up 50 acres of a 600 acre forest preserve, so we are hoping she stays away from the plant and uses the other natural areas of the habitat that surrounds her. The release was a huge success and the eagle didn't even touch the ground. She swooped down, flew up over the river, turned right and was out of sight within seconds."

You can read an article about the release in the Commercial News here.

Bald Eagle Flight Test

Bald Eagle

A juvenile bald eagle presented to the clinic today after being found in a sewage treatment plant. The team washed the sewage off of her and took a blood sample. They will run diagnostic tests on the blood to determine if her organs are functioning normally and the proportions of different white blood cells circulating in her blood.

You'll notice that this bald eagle has dark feathers on her head. Young bald eagles are completely brown. The white head feathers come in when the bird is around 4 or 5 years old.

More Summer Cases

The wildlife clinic is still as busy as ever. The ward is full of orphaned birds and bunnies, as well as injured robins, squirrels, raccoons and a screech owl. There is another Great Blue Heron in the ward, this time with a fractured right ulna and radius (fractured right wing).

This young raccoon has a fractured right leg. The "putty" on the bottom of his leg is an external fixation device. This holds the bone in place as it heals.


Today, we also triaged a fawn. The fawn came in with puncture wounds that looks like they could have come from an animal bite. The trusty summer staff put an IV catheter in the fawn's leg, gave her fluids and pain medication and bandaged her wounds. In the picture, they are finishing wrapping the wound on her abdomen.

Clinic Update

The ward has been pretty busy for the last few weeks. With only the two managers, interns, occasional help by students on rotation and a handful of additional volunteers, there is a lot to do over the summer! As always there are some pretty interesting cases, including:

Snapping Turtle

Orphaned Groundhog

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

Turtle with a Shell Fracture

This turtle presented with a significant shell fracture. We've attempted to surgically wire the shell back together. Turtles heal slowly, but these shell fracture repair surgeries are often successful. Turtle shells are made of bone, and if realigned correctly, will heal similar to any other broken bone.

During Surgery

After Surgery

Clinic Update

Summer is always a busy time in the WMC, and right now there are a few interesting cases in the clinic.

First, there is a Great Blue Heron with a left wing injury.



We also have a very vocal juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.


This turtle needed to have a feeding tube placed to make sure he gets enough nutrients.


As always, there are a lot of juvenile animals in the ward over the summer. Thus far there have been 12 fawns! This one is recovering in an incubator after being hit by a car.

Summer!

Summer has begun at the wildlife clinic. All of the students have finished finals, and most of the volunteers have left to begin their summer adventures. During break, the clinic is kept running by the two managers, two interns and a couple of super devoted volunteers. There are quite a few cases in the ward right now, including a couple of mallard ducks, a juvenile swan, some squirrels. rabbits and a great horned owl. A garter snake just presented after being closed in a door and is currently down getting radiographs. With fewer volunteers and the continual influx of cases, summer is always exciting in the WMC!

Juvenile Swan

Mallard

Examining the Garter Snake

Garter Snake Radiograph

The arrow points to the spinal fracture. (Click on the picture to enlarge.)

New Cases!

Two unusual cases have some into the clinic in the last few days. The first is a juvenile barred owl. The owl is uninjured, and we're planning on transferring her to a rehabber as soon as possible. Young owls imprint very easily, so we're trying to transfer her to a rehabber who has another orphaned owl for her to interact with. For now, we have a mirror in her cage, but we would like to get her out of the ward as soon as we can.

Juvenile Barred Owl

This evening, a badger presented to the clinic. The pager team called in some additional help and was able to do a compete physical exam. We'll be able to better assess the condition of the badger tomorrow when we can run more diagnostic tests.

The Pager Team Examines the New Badger

Clinic Update 4/16

Activity in the clinic has picked up over the last few weeks. Every team has at least one case they are treating, and some of them are pretty interesting. The yellow-bellied sapsucker is still here, and we also have a woodpecker, a goose, a great horned owl, a turkey vulture and a couple of rabbits and squirrels. We also just got a couple of orphaned pigeons. Remember, young animals usually do best with their mothers, so only bring orphaned animals to us if you are sure they have been abandoned. Mother rabbits may only visit their nest twice a day to feed their young!

Team 4 with their Turkey Vulture

Canadian Goose

Great Horned Owl

Team 5 Rabbit Treatments

Orphaned Pigeons