WMC Blog Archive - Veterinary Medicine at Illinois

Captive Barn Owl sitting on a gloved hand.

Eerie Creatures- Scary or Misunderstood

As spooky season approaches, we want to talk about a few animals that get a bad rap for being scarier than they truly are. Owls Owls are often associated with death and bad luck and…
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Golden Plover Graphic with common and scientific name listed below images of a male and female plover. Image retrieved from Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Photo credit: Briansmallphoto.com

Deceptively Endangered? – The American Golden Plover

General Information and Characteristics Considered to be one of the fastest flying shorebirds, reaching speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, the American Golden Plover is a common migratory bird species found traversing the…
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Birds and Migration

Avian Migration Whether you’re an avid bird-watcher or a person who avoids parking under trees so that you don’t have to wash the droppings off of your car for the nth time this week, you’re…
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Young Virginia Opossum sitting on a blanket, looking forwards.

Scavengers Aren’t Scary

Sydney Oliveira, WMC Program Coordinator, and Roxanne Lisowsky, Wildlife Ambassador Care Coordinator and DVM candidate 2027 talk about scavengers. They also introduce us to the Wildlife Medical Clinic’s newest ambassador animal, a young male Virginia…
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Young Virginia Opossum wildlife patient being held for an examine in the Wildlife Medical Clinic.

Should you rescue that animal? Understanding injured wildlife

Sydney Oliveira, WMC Program Coordinator, had the pleasure of chatting with Illinois Extension educators on their podcast, Everyday Environment. Some topics that were discussed include the following: To listen to the podcast or read the…
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Former WMC Ambassador Virginia Opossum, Petunia sitting on a towel.

Remembering Petunia

We recently made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize Petunia, our resident Virginia opossum. Petunia was a huge part of our ambassador program at the Wildlife Medical Clinic, and she will be greatly missed. Petunia’s…
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Former WMC Ambassador Barred Owl, Vara, perched on a branch.

Remembering Vara

Several weeks ago, we made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize our resident barred owl, Vara. This decision came about due to an overall decline in her quality of life. Although Vara did not travel…
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Meet Onslo, the Blue Tongued Skink

Sydney Oliveira, WMC Program Coordinator, brought Onslo (Blue Tongued Skink), a Wildlife Medical Clinic animal ambassador along on her visit to CiLiving. He is one of eleven ambassador animals that individuals may have the pleasure…
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Myth or Fact Wildlife Trivia

Join Kayla Buck, WMC Summer Ambassador Intern, and Emily Blum, WMC Summer Clinic Intern as they play some Wildlife Trivia on our most recent visit to CiLiving.

Two White tailed deer fawns touch noses as they rest in a straw filled enclosure.

Chronic Wasting Disease in White-tail Deer

White-tailed Deer In addition to being named the state mammal, the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is the only native deer species present within Illinois and is the largest herbivore species in the state. As prey…
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