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 species, these animals commonly travel in herds and spend most of their day camouflaging within wooded areas and heavy brush. […]

Case Study: The Hoot on Owl Eyes

Intake and Treatment Plan Earlier this year the Wildlife Medical Clinic received an Eastern Screech Owl, from one of our close partners the Illinois Raptor Center. Unfortunately, this little fella’ had an issue unlike most of our raptor patients. While you may be thinking, “Wow, I’m sure that owl would look super cute with an […]

Coexisting with Wildlife

As cool weather starts to approach, people may soon find wild animals trying to move into their home and their yard. While some people have very environmentally friendly yards that encourage wildlife to visit, some do not and that is ok. Thankfully there are many ways to humanely and effectively prevent unwanted wild visitors. Discouraging […]

Window Strikes in Birds

According to the American Bird Conservancy, it is estimated that collisions likely kill between 365 million to 1 billion birds annually in the United States. The total number of window or glass strikes is likely far greater. In many cases, after colliding with glass, birds suffer internal hemorrhage, concussion, head and eye injuries, and temporary […]

A Reflection on My Time in the Wildlife Medical Clinic

Experiences in the Wildlife Medical Clinic The smallest patient I’ve ever worked with at the Wildlife Medical Clinic was a 28g Swainson’s thrush and I got to intubate. The largest patient I’ve ever worked with was a 4 kg red fox. Both patients presented different challenges, anatomy, and equipment required for care. Throughout my time […]

The Eternal Summer

Climate Change Can you feel it? The temperatures rising, wanting so much to fall into the cozy autumn chill, butstaying stuck in the lazy days of summer, unexpectedly waxing and waning here and there,followed by disastrous hurricanes, detrimental tornadoes, and deadly heat waves. Climate change is upon us, urgently calling for our attention and action. […]

Wildlife and Fireworks

It is often discussed how fireworks impact people and even their pets, but did you know that fireworks can also have negative impacts on our native wildlife populations. Every year wildlife hospitals and rehabilitation centers around the country, including the Wildlife Medical Clinic (WMC), see an increase in the number of orphaned and injured wildlife […]

Wildlife Medical Clinic
Email: noliver@illinois.edu