[music plays] >>Kelly Runyon: Tucked inside the University of Illinois' College of Veterinary Medicine is a special facility, treating some special animals.

The Wildlife Medical Clinic has been providing free medical care for wildlife brought in by the public for almost 40 years.

Coming up on this episode of the Paw Report, we're joined by the clinic's director, Dr. Julia Whittington, and she'll share with us the facility's mission and the many animal success stories.

So, stay with us.

[music plays] Production of the Paw Report is brought to you by... >>Rameen Karbassioon: Dave's Decorating Center is a proud supporter of the Paw Report on WEIU.

Dave's Decorating Center features the Mohawk SmartStrand Silk Forever Clean carpet.

Dave's Decorating Center, authorized Mohawk Color Center, in Charleston.

Okaw Vet Clinic in Tuscola and Dr. Sally Foote remind you to properly take care of your pets, and are happy to help support the Paw Report on WEIU.

Okaw Vet Clinic, located at 140 West Sale Street, in Downtown Tuscola.

More information available at okawvetclinic.com.

>>Kelly Runyon: Well, we'd like to welcome Dr. Julia Whittington to this special edition of the Paw Report.

She brought with her a couple of special guests, which we're going to share with you their stories in just a minute.

But in the little box here is Noel, and I'm going to let you talk about Noel, and also Odin.

So, thank you so much for joining us.

This is going to be a really special episode of the Paw Report because you have so much to share with us about a special center at the University of Illinois.

But first, tell us about yourself and your medical journey to the University of Illinois.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: Well, it's a little bit of a long pathway, but it always was founded in a desire to be able to treat any and all species.

Growing up, I was with a family that didn't allow me to have too many pets.

But my first one was a guinea pig.

And due to circumstances of college and apartment living, I actually continued to have those caged animals, like a hamster or rabbit.

And what I learned was that those species were not always able to receive the same level of veterinary care as say, your dog or cat, horse, or cow because they were considered exotic.

And at that point, I decided that really, I wanted to be able to treat any species.

And throughout my educational pathway, I studied a lot of environmental ecology and different species, including ornithology, which is the study of birds.

And I developed a strong passion for birds, so that really played well towards a pathway learning about wildlife.

When I went to the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois, I took advantage of elective courses and played close attention to the studies that allowed me to gain experience with different species.

And one of those opportunities was working in the Wildlife Medical Clinic.

So, I became one of the student volunteers when I was a veterinary student there.

And then, after graduation I worked in several private practices, where I was able to provide care to all species, including exotic animal pets, and birds.

So, in 2001 there was an opportunity to come back and serve as the director of the Wildlife Clinic at the college, and I jumped at the chance because it's been such an important part of my career.

>>Kelly Runyon: There's also a history to the Wildlife Medical Clinic at the U of I.

Take us back to when it was started, and more so why.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: Right, the Wildlife Clinic is one of those unique gems, I think, that is a perfect example of how a need and a desire to meet that need among a finite number of really caring, passionate individuals can be successful.

So, the Wildlife Clinic started out as a back-root, a back room venture by one of the veterinary technicians in small animal medicine at the college.

Her name is Jackie Yarbrough, and she was a technician who recognized that the public would bring these little animals, you know, orphaned squirrels or that baby robin that fell out of a nest.

And they would bring those animals to the college, expecting that we would be able to provide care for them.

And there was no means to do so.

So, she and a handful of students said, hey administration, can we have one room, can we have just a little bit of money to buy food so that we can provide care for these animals.

We won't be in anybody's way, and we're going to provide this important service to the community.

And from that, it grew to the point where I was a student, where we had about 40 student volunteers.

We were overseen by one of the small animal medicine faculty members, Dr. Tom Burke, who was a long time faculty member at the college.

And we were able to provide care to about 500 animals.

Then, fast forward to now, where we in the clinic care for about 1,500 animals every year.

And I oversee the work of about 120 veterinarian undergraduate students who provide care for those animals.

So, it's an amazing resource, not only for the college with the point of educating these students, but also for the community, who really is clamoring and needs a place to bring these animals in need.

>>Kelly Runyon: So, you work very closely with the College of Veterinary Medicine's veterinary teaching hospital.

And so, you're the Wildlife Medical Clinic, a big part of that is the student volunteers.

Talk about the integral part of how they keep the clinic going day to day.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: I couldn't do it without them.

Veterinary students, I think one thing, too, before I talk about how they are integral to the clinic, I think it's important to understand veterinarians and veterinary students.

So, veterinary students have elected to take this route largely because they're passionate about the field.

They're not in it for the money.

I wish I could tell you that veterinarians are rich people.

But they're not.

And the debt that these students incur while going through their veterinary education is significant.

So, it's not about the money.

It's about their desire to care for these creatures.

It's also about science and medicine.

And it's also about people.

So, one thing that I think is a misnomer is that, you know, you want to be a veterinarian if you like animals.

But you've got to like people, too.

There's always a human attached to that animal, whether it's a pet or a production animal, or frankly a wild animal, because somebody has taken the time to bring that animal to you.

So, these are very passionate students.

The unique aspect of the Wildlife Clinic that appeals to the students is that students from their very first day in the veterinary curriculum join a treatment team.

And that team is comprised of students who are in their first year of the veterinary curriculum, all the way through their third and fourth years, where they're actually honing their skills and starting to really put those skills to use in case management.

So, it's an amazingly unique opportunity for these students.

I am unaware of any other program in this country that allows students to have that sort of autonomy and case management control in order to gain experience in their career.

Many of these students actually don't have an interest with working with wild animals, or exotic animals, or birds in their futures.

But they understand that the application of the skills they learn and the principles of medicine apply across species.

So, what they gain in caring for this little owl, they can apply to somebody's shih tzu, or they can apply to somebody's horse, or they can use in the management of public health policy because it all pertains to veterinary medicine.

>>Kelly Runyon: Sure.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: The students actually gain an awful lot of experience by working in the Wildlife Clinic.

That being said, they devote hundreds of hours outside of their studies and outside of the curriculum to care for these animals.

>>Kelly Runyon: Speaking of these animals, how many cases do you see a year, and what types of cases?

And maybe now is an appropriate time to tell the stories of Noel and Odin.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: Yeah, we in the Wildlife Clinic see about 1,500 animals.

Now, that varies.

This year I think we're on track to see a few more.

Last year we saw a few less.

A lot of that has to do with how harsh the winter is, and how harsh the summer is.

Because, obviously, environmental conditions are going to impact how an animals is able to survive in the wild.

Interestingly, many of the animals that we get into the clinic are suffering from what we call anthropogenic morbidity.

And what I mean by anthropogenic is there is some aspect of human involvement in that, in their disease process.

So, whether that's hit by a car, run over by a lawn mower, you know, oiled because they found some sort of environmental contaminate.

And because of that human involvement, those animals are often the ones that are found by people and brought to us.

There's any number of other individual animals that are never found because they, you know, succumb to injury or illness that people don't appreciate.

I don't mean appreciate in care about, but find.

So, we do rely on the public to bring us those cases.

We, last year, saw 98 different species.

But if you look at the numbers of different animals, individual animals that comprise those 98 different species, obviously those that are more common in Central Illinois are the ones that we see the greatest numbers of.

So, you're going to see a large number of cotton-tailed rabbits, and gray squirrels, robins, and other songbirds.

We'll see a fair number of raptors, such as Noel and Odin.

Now, again, let's talk about the different species.

Noel is a saw-whet owl.

So, saw-whets are native to this part of the country, and they're not a rare species.

But because of their natural history, which is that they are a smallish owl, they like to reside in brush, they're not going to be up out in the branches, they're not going to be flying around where people are able to see them, they will often stay in cover.

Because, even though Noel, saw-whet owls are a predator, she would also be considered a morsel for another species that, you know, could hunt her.

So, they are going to take advantage of cover among the trees in order to protect themselves, while also hunting.

So, in the history of the Wildlife Clinic since I've been involved, since 1997, we've seen maybe three or four saw-whet owls total vs. red-tailed hawks.

Red-tailed hawks are also common to Central Illinois and North America, which is what Odin is.

And they are very common.

They also are what we call ambush hunters.

So, they are going to be the birds that you see sitting on roadside signs, on the telephone poles that you see as you drive down a country lane.

And what they're doing is they're scanning their environment looking for small prey that happens to be on the ground near them.

And then, once they identify that prey, they will ambush them and hunt them that way.

So, these animals, you're going to see much more commonly out and about, and so they're more recognizable.

>>Kelly Runyon: So, you rely on the public to spot a problem with an animal, and bring it to you.

What advice can you give to the public?

Because, I mean just me personally, if Odin was hurt, if I saw a red-tailed hawk along the side of the road, I'd be a bit afraid.

I wouldn't know how to get it to you.

I wouldn'’’t know who to call or what to do.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: Sure, that's a really good question.

And I think the first thing to do, that anybody who comes across an animal needs to be considering is can they safely approach it.

There's always going to be some trepidation.

Any time we get in an animal into the clinic, even though we are trained and skilled to handle these animals, we always take a minute and observe it before laying our hands on it.

And the reason for that is even a prey species, you know, the typical prey species that you'd think about would be, you know, a squirrel or a cotton-tailed rabbit.

Even those animals have a means to protect themselves.

And so, you have to make sure that you're prepared before you attempt to capture that animal, that you're prepared to mitigate those defenses.

The best way, absolute best way to manage capturing these animals is to do it with as little handling as possible.

So, finding an appropriately sized container that has easy access, so a box.

Using a pet taxi is okay, it's a secure restraint.

But trying to get that animal into it might be challenging.

So, a box tends to work well.

And then, having a big blanket or sheet, or tarp, something that allows you to hide yourself from the animal as you approach it.

By not letting that animal see you, it helps to decrease their natural fear of your approach.

So, holding a big blanket, moving slowly, and then gently laying that blanket over the animal, and then scooping the whole thing into your secure restraint is the best way.

If you have to lay your hands on the animal, then make sure you have heavy gloves.

Once you have the animal restrained in a secure container, it's important to simply put it in a dark, quiet, comfortable temperature location, and let it sit.

Avoid peaking at it, avoid showing everybody, you know, oh look.

Avoid feeding it, avoid trying to get it to drink water.

All of those things can be very stressful, and in fact, detrimental to that animal's well-being.

The best thing to do is locate a licensed rehabilitator as soon as you can, and get that animal transferred.

>>Kelly Runyon: Mmhmm.

And you know, we've talked a lot about animals that you've treated.

There are all types: coyotes, turtles, maybe you could add to the list, birds of prey, obviously.

Maybe some of the more obscure.

You said you had an eagle in your clinic, or in the clinic now.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: Yeah, so I would say the strangest, so all of the patients we take in are native.

So, they're not strange in that they're, you know, not normally found in North America.

But certainly, some stories you have to wonder if there wasn't a guardian angel kind of looking over that person's shoulder, or frankly the animal's shoulder.

I remember as a student one fall, we got an adult female bobcat who had suffered a trap injury.

But what was so remarkable about that particular case was that some individuals who had been driving south on I-57 happened to see her along the roadside.

And despite not having any sort of secure container in their vehicle, they wrapped her up in a towel, or in a blanket, put her in the back of their SUV, and drove her to us.

So, you know, and working with her, I can tell you she was not tame by any means.

In fact, her growl throughout the hospital was sort of intimidating.

So, just the simple fact that they took it upon themselves to safely capture her, and that they were able to bring her to us safely was pretty miraculous in and of itself.

I wouldn't recommend something like that.

Certainly, we get a fair number of eagles.

We're seeing more and more.

So, eagles were endangered not that long ago, but they've made a remarkable comeback with a lot of regulations.

And in fact, some fairly stringent laws about their hunting, trapping, and you know, and protection.

So, we're really lucky that we're getting that species back.

But because of that, we're seeing more and more of them.

And they have mishaps.

The eagle we have in hospital right now came from over by Peoria, where she was found floating in the river.

And unfortunately, her injury was catastrophic to her wing, so she's not going to be releasable.

But because these animals are making a comeback, there are still institutions that could use an educational eagle.

Our goal always, always is to get these animals back out into the wild.

But with eagles, they still enjoy a protected status where, if we can place her with an appropriate institution, like a zoo, where she'll have a comfortable existence and she won't have to deal with stress of handling, we can place her.

But most of the time, our goal is to get them back out.

>>Kelly Runyon: You mentioned the growl of the bobcat.

And I have to believe that what you do is a dangerous job.

And probably in a different environment than somebody who's treating a domesticated animal.

Is that, I mean is that always in the forefront of your mind?

I mean, I think that would be, some patients are probably kind of scary.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: They are.

Badgers.

Badgers are scary.

A really angry woodchuck can be scary.

We had a woodchuck, this was a notable case, it was an adult male woodchuck, whom an individual found because the woodchuck had found a peanut butter jar that it decided would be really nice to clean out.

Unfortunately, it got its head stuck.

So, bringing the animal to us wasn't that challenging, simply because the jar prevented the individual who brought the animal to us from getting bitten.

Woodchucks are rodents, and those teeth are pretty impressive.

So, even though they're herbivores, you know, they're not carnivores, they wouldn't necessarily bite naturally, when cornered they will certainly bite.

And those big rodent teeth can inflict a significant injury.

So, our students developed a plan, where they drilled a hole in the end of the peanut butter jar and anesthetized the animal with a gas anesthetic through the peanut butter jar.

And once it was asleep, we could extract it from the jar and then release it.

>>Kelly Runyon: What a story.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: But yes, we always worry about, we always think about what do we have to do to minimize the handling and stress to the patient, while also keeping us safe.

Interestingly, although not amusing to my college administration, is that the number one bite that my students actually suffer from are squirrel bites.

Because, again, they're small enough that you can handle them, and we absolutely wear heavy leather gloves, but again, those rodents have very sharp teeth.

And they're wily, and if they struggle enough and they grab a student, they get bitten.

So, we do everything we can to prevent that.

But that's why we definitely talk to finders, as well as to individuals who find animals and decide that they would try to care for them themselves.

Not only is it illegal to do so, but it's risky, not just for the animal, but also for the individual.

You know, we don't like to talk about it much, but wild animals can carry diseases that are zoonotic.

They can infect people.

And there's a handful of them, they're not rampant, but they're there.

And so, really if an individual finds an animal, it's best to take a hands-off approach and get that animal transferred to a licensed individual as soon as possible.

>>Kelly Runyon: You know, while you're work is centered around taking care of the animals, what you do at the clinic also provides help and research for scientists all across the U.S.

So, talk about beyond just the treatment, data that you collect or information that you collect that helps others.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: That's a good question.

The Wildlife Clinic does not experiment on our patients, absolutely not.

But what we have is a unique opportunity where we have a built-in study population.

And so, in the course of caring for our patients, we are able to implement treatments that have not been tried before on a certain species, or maybe are being modified from their use in a domestic animal to fit to the care of a wild animal.

Sometimes, because of the nature of these species and the fact that we can't just pull them out of a cage everyday and work with them for an hour, and put them in the underwater treadmill to make sure they have physical therapy, our approach to their management is much more hands-off.

But because of that, sometimes we have to get creative in the techniques that we implement.

And because wildlife medicine in the care of individual animals is fairly new in the realm of veterinary medicine, there's so much that we do that's never been reported before.

So, it's important not only to report our successes and get that information out there, but also to report our failures and try to modify techniques so that we can always improve.

So, again, as we have students interested in wildlife medicine and working in the clinic, we offer them opportunities to participate in some of these really important studies.

Two examples.

If we were to get a bird like Odin in, Odin has arthritis in one wing.

And an important component to the therapy of a bird with any sort of orthopedic injury is physical therapy.

If you go to your physical therapist, they're going to ask you to do a series of exercises.

They might have you go into the water to exercise.

They might do some massage therapy or laser therapy.

All of that requires, in these guy,s restraint.

So, the question that we have is, is the simple procedure of manually restraining these animals and putting them through that therapy a stress, or would it be better to anesthetize them for that 15 minutes that it takes on a daily or every other day basis, and do the therapy that way?

Anesthesia is a stress, too.

Which is worse?

So, since that is a procedure that we have to do for the therapy of the animals anyway, and it's not going to change, we looked at the indicators of stress in animals that were physically restrained vs. those that were anesthetized for that procedure.

And then, we compared those stress indicators to see if one way was better than the other.

So, while it's not experimenting per se, it's still treating these animals as we would anyway, we're then taking the clinical data that we gain in that process and making some scientific assessments of it.

And then, that information, for instance, that particular study a student is going to present at a national conference in September.

So, that's really not only a great experience for the students, but that helps the Wildlife Clinic really advance this field.

And the impact it has on any number of animals is exponential.

>>Kelly Runyon: Well, Dr. Julia Whittington, thank you so much for joining us on the Paw Report for this episode.

Your passion is very evident, and your work is simply amazing.

And I'd have to be honest with you, I didn't even know that this was being done in Central Illinois, as I'm sure others, as well.

So, thank you again for joining us, and thank you for bringing Odin and Noel.

They've been very, very quiet and very inquisitive in here, just staring.

If the viewers at home were in our studio, they're just looking all around at all their surroundings, but they've behaved very, very well.

So, thank you for joining us.

>>Dr.

Julia Whittington: It's my pleasure.

Thanks for having me.

>>Kelly Runyon: And thank you, and we'll see you next time on the Paw Report.Production of the Paw Report is brought to you by... >>Rameen Karbassioon: Okaw Vet Clinic in Tuscola and Dr. Sally Foote remind you to properly take care of your pets, and are happy to help support the Paw Report on WEIU.

Okaw Vet Clinic, located at 140 West Sale Street, in Downtown Tuscola.

More information available at okawvetclinic.com.

Dave's Decorating Center is a proud supporter of the Paw Report on WEIU.

Dave's Decorating Center features the Mohawk SmartStrand Silk Forever Clean carpet.

Dave's Decorating Center, authorized Mohawk Color Center, in Charleston.

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