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

Yankee Ridge Educational Event

Before school let out for the summer, two of our resident raptors visited the students at Yankee Ridge Elementary school. Nokomis and Odin visited an art class so the students could practice drawing live subjects. It was a really interesting opportunity for both the birds and the artists!

You can read more about the event here. (Scroll down... the story is toward the bottom of the page.)




The raptors will be at the Springer Cultural Center for the Champaign Park District Summer Day Camp on June 19th and at the Rantoul Public Library at 1pm on June 27th. Stop by and say "hello!"

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.