General Information
Although we specialize in birds of prey (hawks, owls and eagles) as wildlife rehabilitators, we attempt to provide care for any injured or orphaned wild animals.
Unfortunately, the costs involved in wildlife rehabilitation, are almost exclusively paid by those involved in it, not the government. The Raptor Rehabilitation Center has no public funding. The State of Illionois charges a fee for the license and the County charges property taxes on the structures built to house the birds. Those interested in doing rehabilitation should know that there are constant and substantial expenses for food, transportation and housing. Our educational birds are full time residents that require food, maintenence and housing as well. The RRC is very fortunate in having an ongoing association with an Accreditied Animal Hospital that donates their services at nominal fees. Without that savings we could not rehabilitate most of the birds we recieve. Providing medical care is the most crucial, and potentially most expensive, part of the rehabilitation process.
Over the past 5 years, we have received over 1000 birds. Most of those were injured by people, either accidentally or on purpose. We have been able to return over 30% back to their natural environment.
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