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Snowy Owl Recovering at UI’s Wildlife Medical Clinic
Story date: Friday, January 27, 2012 from Illinois Public Media News
A lack of food in the Arctic this winter means the snowy owl is being spotted much farther south than usual.
One of them is recovering from its injuries at the University of Illinois’ Wildlife Medical Clinic. Clinic co-manager Anne Rivas says the bird was discovered starving in a Tolono cornfield with a broken wing on January 3rd.
“We suspect he was trying to survive by feeding on roadkill and got hit by a car,” she said. “He was actually down in a field for four days before he was brought in to us. The first week, we just worked really hard at just keeping him alive, then he underwent two different surgeries to help repair the wing.”
Rivas says the owl is now eating, and doing very well. She says the goal is to release it to the wild after healing and rehab time. But Rivas says it’s possible the bird could be placed in an educational institute, since it has a mild temperament, and is such a rare species.
The staff at the Clinic believes the owl is a male, and less than a year old. They’ve been calling him Qugiq, an Inuit word meaning ‘white hawk that flies in the sky.’ Rivas says three other snowy owls have been spotted around Champaign County this winter.
Care for the snowy owl is paid for entirely with donations.
(Photo courtesy of Rob Kanter)
