Wildlife Hospital

What does a rehabilitator do?

We are paramedics – stopping bleeding, treating for shock, providing emergency fluids, doing physical exams, immobilizing fractures, administering antibiotics.

We are laboratory technicians – drawing and analyzing blood for anemia, parasites, and signs of disease or starvation; analyzing fecal samples for parasites, bacteria, and blood; x-raying for fractures or other problems. Our staff veterinarian works with several generous off-site veterinarians who donate their services for surgery and consulting.

We are nurses – changing bandages and bedding, cleaning wounds, giving shots, administering medications.

We are dietitians – calculating the calories necessary for growth and healing, presenting the food in a way most conducive to self-feeding, making sure our patients are eating.

We are farmers – raising the live mice used for teaching birds to hunt.

We are custodians – hosing down carriers, washing dishes, disinfecting incubators, laundering bedding, cleaning constantly!

We are physical therapists – providing range of motion exercises to help loosen stiff joints and strengthen weakened muscles.

We are naturalists – utilizing our knowledge of a species’s habitat, diet, and behavior in creating personalized treatment regimens for each bird.

And, finally, for each patient, we have to be the judges for a very difficult decision: Can this bird be released? Our first priority is always the welfare of the animal, and we must be confident that any bird we release is able to thrive in the wild – to fly, catch food, find and defend a territory, attract a mate, reproduce, and migrate as appropriate to its species.

Our rehabilitation work is done under permits from both the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Cascades Raptor Center has two licensed rehabilitators, with combined experience of over 45 years in the field; we have also 7 consulting veterinarians including board-certified avian, surgery, and ophthalmology specialists.