Wildlife Medical Clinic at Illinois

Wildlife Medical Clinic at Illinois The Wildlife Medical Clinic accepts ill, injured, and orphaned wildlife (excluding skunks and bats) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Wildlife Medical Clinic, located on the University of Illinois campus and part of the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital, is a not-for-profit clinic that cares for approximately 2,000 wild animals annually. We see around 2,000 patients annually that are cared for and treated by our approximately 120 veterinary and undergraduate student volunteers. While the veterinary college

provides the clinical space and faculty oversight for our volunteers, our operating budget is funded entirely through fundraising, donations, and grants. The Wildlife Medical Clinic’s mission is three-fold. We strive to provide the highest quality care to native wildlife. We are committed to training the next generation of veterinarians by providing hands on learning and training during their time in the clinic. And lastly, we educate members of the public about coexisting with native Illinois wildlife. If you have a question about an injured, ill, or orphaned animal you found, we may be reached via phone at 217-244-1195 or via e-mail at [email protected]. If your question is urgent, please call the Clinic at 217-244-1995. If you would like more information on supporting the wildlife medical clinic, please visit https://vetmed.illinois.edu/hospital/wildlife-medical-clinic/wildlife-giving/. If you are interested in scheduling an outreach program involving our ambassador animals, please visit https://vetmed.illinois.edu/hospital/wildlife-medical-clinic/outreach/.

✨   ✨Our case update this week is on patient 25-1076 an adult female spiny softshell turtle. She presented to the clinic...
07/10/2025

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Our case update this week is on patient 25-1076 an adult female spiny softshell turtle. She presented to the clinic after being found by our county animal control with a bad wound on her neck and an injured eye. After cleaning out the wound, we ended up performing radiographs (x-rays!) and found out that she had also swallowed a fish hook. From there she got to take a trip to our Internal Medicine department to get an upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy procedure so that we could see where and how embedded the hook was. After finding it with this procedure the hook was able to be surgically removed. Lastly, her injured eye was removed as it was no longer visual and the injury to it was causing her pain. Despite only having one eye, she will still be able to be released once her surgical sites and neck wounds heal!

🛎DING, DING, DING!🛎⌛Time is up.For our   , if you guessed Spiny Softshell Turtle you would be correct!Come back tomorrow...
07/09/2025

🛎DING, DING, DING!🛎
⌛Time is up.

For our , if you guessed Spiny Softshell Turtle you would be correct!

Come back tomorrow to get a more in depth case update on this patient.

❓   ❓Can you guess whose eye this is? Check back at 5pm to see if you guessed correctly!
07/09/2025

❓ ❓

Can you guess whose eye this is?

Check back at 5pm to see if you guessed correctly!

  This week we want to highlight one of our zoo specialty interns, Dr. Erica Bender. She has spent so much time within t...
07/07/2025



This week we want to highlight one of our zoo specialty interns, Dr. Erica Bender. She has spent so much time within the clinic starting as a volunteer in vet school and becoming a student manager, to now rotating through the clinic as part of her internship. She will soon be heading to the University of Florida as their Zoological Medicine Resident. The clinic is so proud of Dr. Bender and while we will miss having her around we cannot wait to see what she accomplishes. After all her time in the clinic Dr. Bender says her favorite part of working in the clinic is being able to give all the animals we see a second chance, especially those that are successfully operated on and rehabbed for release. Good luck in Florida Dr. Bender!

🌟  🌟Did you know that red-tailed hawks don’t get their characteristic red tail until they’re about 2 years old? This is ...
07/04/2025

🌟 🌟

Did you know that red-tailed hawks don’t get their characteristic red tail until they’re about 2 years old? This is one way we can differentiate between a juvenile and an adult! Another way is to look at their eyes. Juvenile red-tailed hawks will have lighter, yellow eyes that will darken to a brown color as they mature. Though these characteristics don’t tell us exactly how old these raptors are, they do help us to estimate their age!

✨   ✨Our case update this week is on Ruby, our 10 year old female red-tailed hawk who has been an ambassador since 2018....
07/03/2025

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Our case update this week is on Ruby, our 10 year old female red-tailed hawk who has been an ambassador since 2018. Ruby was showing abnormalities in her flying in May that indicated she had some pain in her left shoulder. She had a full exam and radiographs were taken, but we were unable to identify any orthopedic injuries that would explain her abnormal flight patterns. It was presumed that she had a soft tissue injury and was put on two medications for pain management (Meloxicam and Gabapentin) along with resting from creance training (flying between 2 points while attached to a long weighted line) for 4 weeks. This past Monday, 6/23, Ruby showed improvement with her flying! Moving forward, she will be able to do short training sessions again as long as she doesn’t show any signs of pain!

It is important to note that addition to illness exams, our ambassadors all receive routine examinations including radiographs, annual bloodwork and other diagnostics, and our birds get vaccinated for the West Nile Virus to ensure they remain happy and healthy while in our care!

🛎DING, DING, DING!🛎⌛Time's Up!It's Cadu (Caduceus), our 19 year old Brazilian Rainbow Boa! Did you know, these snakes ha...
07/02/2025

🛎DING, DING, DING!🛎
⌛Time's Up!

It's Cadu (Caduceus), our 19 year old Brazilian Rainbow Boa!

Did you know, these snakes have microscopic ridges on their scales that refract light giving them an iridescent shimmer!

❓   ❓Its time for   ! Do you have any guesses on which ambassador animal has this pattern?Come back at 5pm to see if you...
07/02/2025

❓ ❓

Its time for !
Do you have any guesses on which ambassador animal has this pattern?

Come back at 5pm to see if you guessed correctly!

🎆  🎆Check out this recent Hawk Talk article that discusses Wildlife and Fireworks. Before you celebrate this upcoming In...
07/01/2025

🎆 🎆

Check out this recent Hawk Talk article that discusses Wildlife and Fireworks. Before you celebrate this upcoming Independence Day, remember to keep our wildlife friends in mind and do your best to have a safe and animal friendly celebration!

Learn about the impact fireworks have on wildlife and safer alternatives for celebrating the fourth of July.

⭐   ⭐For this week’s    , we are introducing our Summer Ambassador Intern, Kayla Buck. Kayla works with our ambassador a...
06/30/2025

⭐ ⭐

For this week’s , we are introducing our Summer Ambassador Intern, Kayla Buck. Kayla works with our ambassador animals to ensure they have proper husbandry, diets, training, and interactions over the summer. She began volunteering with the ambassadors during this past school year to work with animals she hadn’t previously had experience with. Her goals for the summer are to start training with our Bald Eagle (River) and to help with outreach programs to help educate our community about wildlife!

06/27/2025

This is a follow up video to our post. This was the second Bald Eagle patient we recently had the privilege of releasing back into the wild.

06/27/2025

🦅 🦅

Bald eagles have an amazing sense of sight, with a 340-degree field of vision, and they can see 4-5 times sharper compared to humans. An amazing part of their ocular anatomy is that they have four cones in their eyes compared to humans, with just three. This adaptation allows them to see UV, which enables them to detect urine trails of potential prey.

These two separate Bald Eagle release videos highlight their impressive flight ability, as they can fly at speeds of up to 99mph!

Check out the video below from an eagle we released close to two weeks ago. Another post will follow with the Eagle that was released about a week ago.

Update: Some folks are concerned about the suitability of this release site. This location is almost exactly where our staff member found her grounded before bringing her in for care. Raptors, and most other adult wildlife, have established territories, where they may have nesting sites and mates. Relocated animals have a lower survival rate in unfamiliar territories. They may struggle to find food in unfamiliar hunting grounds and some raptor species can chase off, injure, or even kill birds released in their teritory. This may not looks like pristine habitat, but it is where this eagle had chosen as home!

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2100 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL
61802

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The Wildlife Medical Clinic accepts ill, injured, or orphaned wildlife (except for skunks and bats) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Upon presentation, the animals are triaged and then assigned to a team of 8-10 volunteers (generally veterinary students) who are responsible for treating the patient. The primary goal in treating wild animals is to help animals recover to a state in which they can be released into the wild. Wild animals must be 100% before being released into the wild in order for them to hunt or forage for food, as well as stay out of danger. If you have a question or concern about a wild animal, please call: (217) 244-1195