Wildlife Medical Clinic at Illinois

11/19/2025

⌛️TIME’S UP!⌛️ That is the impressive bill of the American White Pelican! These birds are truly amazing creatures, soaring with a wingspan up to 9ft. Unlike the other species of pelican in the US, the Brown Pelican, the American White Pelican does not plunge dive to catch food but rather sits on the surface of the water and dip their heads under water to scoop up their food, which is usually small fish and sometimes crustaceans and amphibians. American White Pelicans also display a cooperative feeding technique, where a group of them will herd fish into shallow water, allowing them to be caught more easily.

You may be wondering how a pelican ended up in IL. Well, these birds are migratory, spending their breeding season on small inland islands before wintering back on the coastal shores, or around warm inland lakes. While rather uncommon, they do pass through IL and much of the midwest on their way to and from those breeding grounds. This juvenile, non-breeding bird was found alone with a chronic eye injury and evidence of a prior fishing line injury around its wing.

11/19/2025

Drop those guesses in the comments for this edition of ! Check back on our page at 5pm to see the big reveal! 🤯🧐❓

11/15/2025

Take a read of the words of wisdom passed along by Dr. John Coyne, whose generous donations has given the Wildlife Medical Clinic its home in the Dr. John A Coyne South Clinic, and learn about the exciting expansion occurring in our space that will allow for more community education events, thanks to the generosity of Dr. Julia Saville!

The University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine dedicated the Dr. John A. Coyne South Clinic on October 10.

11/14/2025

It’s so let’s talk about a fascinating little bird, the Blue Jay! Ready to have your mind blown? 🤯 These birds are not actually blue at all! What you’re seeing is actually somewhat of an optical illusion- their feathers are brown, but appear blue because of light refraction. When light hits their feathers, blue light is reflected back, while the other visible colors are absorbed by their pigment, making them appear blue to our eye. Without direct light, they would appear brown! Fun fact AND physics on a Friday? You’re welcome! 🐦🤩

11/12/2025

⌛️TIME’S UP!⌛️ That little chelonian is a painted turtle! These reptiles are quite common throughout the US, and they are the state reptile in IL. Painted turtles spend a lot of their time in the water. In fact, they must be in water to eat. Their tongues are not freely moving, so they must be underwater to swallow their food. You’re most likely to encounter them in the shallow waters of ponds, lakes, and slow-moving streams. Definitely admire their beautiful coloring!🐢

11/12/2025

Let’s see those guesses in the comments below! Check back on our page at 5pm for the answer! 🧐

11/10/2025

To brighten up your Monday, we are sharing a video from a very special release. Over two months ago, we released 12 spiny softshell turtle hatchlings to the wild! The WMC incubated 16 softshell turtle eggs that were accidentally dug up when construction crews started building at their nest site. Much to our delight, we got to watch 12 of those eggs hatch!

The WMC is also currently caring for a box turtle hatchling who we incubated from an egg that we removed from their mother after she sadly did not survive a vehicle strike. That box turtle hatched too late to safely release this fall, but it will be released back in its mother’s territory come springtime!

Enjoy watching these softshell turtle hatchlings experience their first taste of freedom! We think it’s the cutest thing you’ll see this week!

11/09/2025

You have one more day to get your orders in for our fall clothing sale! All purchases go toward supporting the WMC in treating and rehabilitating our wildlife patients, and you get fantastic swag in return! 🐿️🐸🦉🐢🐦‍⬛🦝
Get those orders in by tomorrow, 11/10!

11/08/2025

Did you know that our ambassador animal team recently grew? Our Program Coordinator, Sydney Oliveira, and Ambassador Care Coordinator and Class of ‘27 DVM candidate, Roxanne Lisowsky, introduce our new resident ambassador Virginia opossum, and talk about scavengers in the wild! Check it out! https://vetmed.illinois.edu/hospital/wildlife-medical-clinic/wmc-blog/scavengers-arent-scary/

If you would like to learn more about our resident ambassador animals, visit our website at https://vetmed.illinois.edu/hospital/wildlife-medical-clinic/outreach/ambassador-animals/.

Odin Odin is one of our resident male Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and he was found in Fairbury, Illinois. He presented to the Wildlife Medical Clinic as an extremely weak, emaciated, and dehydrated juvenile on... Read More >

11/07/2025

It’s ! Have you ever seen a spiny softshell turtle in the wild before? When out of the water, they are hard to miss due to their large size, distinct elongated snout, and smooth, flat shell. Most turtles you’ve seen probably have a classic tile-like appearance to their shells. Those “tiles” are called scutes, and form the hardened, keratinized shell that helps protect them. As you can see pictured here, the spiny softshell turtle lacks these scutes, and their shell is instead leathery and somewhat flexible. It’s still incredibly sturdy! These creatures spend most of their time underwater, burrowed in the sand or mud, using their long neck and unique nose as a snorkel while they remain hidden waiting to ambush prey like invertebrates, frogs, and small fish. Our team loved being able to help the spiny softshell turtle in these images- she was treated at the WMC and released over the summer! 😍🐢

11/06/2025

They're here!

The Wildlife Medical Clinic 2026 Calendars have arrived! Purchase them now online for only $20 each and help support our work! Our calendar this year features all professional photos of our amazing Ambassador Animals!

Calendars can be purchased here: go.illinois.edu/WMCCalendar

11/06/2025

We’ve got another wonderful to start your Thursday off right! 🙌 Juvenile Virginia Opossum 25-2131 came to us on 10/5/25 after being found orphaned. On intake, our team noted that he was thin, and about 5mm of his tail tip was necrotic, meaning that the tissue was dead. Opossums require their tail for climbing, balance, and carrying nesting material, so our team began a course of antibiotics, pain medication, and anti-inflammatories with the hope that the necrosis noted at the tip would not progress further down the tail.
We began our orphan protocol with 25-2131, administering regular formula feedings to help him gain weight, and slowly introducing solid food to encourage him to eat on his own. In the meantime, we continued to monitor his tail. Thankfully, the necrosis did not progress any further, and enough healthy tail was still intact that would permit normal function in the wild. 25-2131 underwent a successful minor procedure on 10/17 to amputate the dead tail tissue.
Since 10/17, 25-2131 has been healing and slowly gaining weight. On intake, he was only 57g and is now just shy of 370g! On 11/4, he was transferred to a licensed rehabilitator for continued care which will allow him to grow a little more and be conditioned before he is released back into the wild! 🤩