Animal Rehab at Chintimini Wildlife Center
By Envision Magazine on April 17, 2014
Story by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Photos by Eli Lapidus
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, two red-tailed hawks circle in the cloudless sky, crossing paths and occasionally dive-bombing each other. Several hundred feet below, in a small patch of grass at the edge of a grove of conifers, Morgan the sparred owl perches on a wooden sign. She turns her light brown-and-white feathered head 90 degrees, and blinks warily at her trainer, Zach Heesch. One of her eyes is clouded over with a thin grey film. In 2005, as a juvenile, Morgan was hit by a truck. Her wing was injured, and she suffered a collapsed lens in her right eye. She was brought to Corvallis’ Chintimini Wildlife Center, where she has since recovered and now serves as an educational bird. “She’s a fantastic education bird,” says Jessica Stewart, a volunteer at Chintimini.
Morgan is one of 16 raptors that the center keeps on site and trains for educational purposes. In the pen next to Morgan’s, a crow named Ziggy caws aggressively at passers-by, his crackling calls piercing the air. Ziggy was illegally raised—he was imprinted by humans—which means that he does not associate himself with other birds. “This can be dangerous because he can see you as a potential mate or as competition,” says Stewart.
In the large stalls next to Ziggy live two barn owls, a male named Rhett and a female, Kiska. On the other side of them are two male turkey vultures, Ferdinand and Junior. Zach takes Junior, who is 17 years old, out of the pen and sets him down on the gravel. He walks on a leash like a dog, and, enjoying the weather, spreads his wings to their full span, just shy of 5 feet, and stands still, absorbing the warmth of the sun into his velvety maroon feathers.
“Chintimini is great because it gives me the hands-on experience I need for zookeeping, but also lets me explore the local wildlife.”
—Jessica Stewart
Devika, a pygmy owl, occupies a much smaller cage. Standing about 7 inches tall and weighing 2.5 pounds, she is smaller than some songbirds. “Don’t let her size fool you,” says Stewart. Although only about the size of a robin, pygmy owls can take down prey about three times their size. This includes songbirds, voles, mice and rats, and occasionally small reptiles. Unlike other owls that hunt by sound, the pygmy owl’s hearing is not as well developed, so they rely on spotting their prey by sight and then diving down to capture it.
Stewart walks over to Tskili, the great horned owl whom she trains and cares for. The name Tskili (pronounced “Keeli”) literally translates to “horned owl” in Cherokee. Tskili has been at the center his entire life, since 1999. He fell out of a nest as an owlet, and doesn’t have full extension of his left wing. Tskili is usually amicable, and is the bird that the center uses to train volunteers for educational presentations. On this particular day, though, he stares gravely at passers-by. “He didn’t want to come out today,” Stewart says.
In a wooded seclusion, other raptors live in large enclosures. This includes two adult male bald eagles and one female juvenile, three red-tailed hawks, and during migration season, falcons.
This time of year is primarily raptor season for Chintimini. During the summer they often rehabilitate songbirds, and the occasional raccoon. They currently have two squirrels being rehabilitated. “We see a lot of human-related injuries: for raptors, the injuries usually include car collisions, rodenticide and window collisions. Car collisions are probably the biggest cause.”
While it can be a long process to get injured animals re-acclimated to living on their own, it’s the highest priority for the center. “Our number one goal here is the release of animals back into the wild,” says Stewart. “One thing we do is to make sure they’re mentally and physically ready to go – that depends on the extent of the injury. With predatory animals, we make sure they know how to catch live prey. Obviously, if they can’t, it’s not the humane thing to let them go.”
Stewart acknowledges that part of working with animals is accepting the severity of some injuries. “One thing you have to come to terms with, with rehab, is that sometimes the most humane thing to do is to euthanize. Sometimes you have to realize that there really are worse things than death for some animals – like a bird without a wing or a foot,” Stewart says. “No one likes to see it, but sometimes you have to do it.”
In addition to volunteering, Stewart is a student in Oregon State University’s Avian Conservation program, which is run through the university’s Fisheries and Wildlife Department. “Chintimini is great because it gives me the hands-on experience I need for zookeeping, but also lets me explore the local wildlife,” she says. Stewart also used to work at Eugene’s Raptor Center to gain further experience working with animals.
Chintimini is able to run in large part thanks to the volunteers, more than 100 of whom work at the center. “Volunteers do everything: laundry and picking up supplies, to floating around different departments,” says Stewart. Other volunteers work exclusively in the wildlife clinic. They are trained by rehabilitators and senior volunteers, and can work with birds after 6 months of training. Stewart describes the program, which involves getting to know the birds and their body language, gaining their trust, and building a relationship with them. They move on to presenting the birds to visitors and students, and eventually, going out and handling them alone. “As far as approachability, each bird is different. Some birds are better with presentations for kids, some are better for adults.” The functioning of the center itself depends on donations and grants.
Volunteering at the center is by no means a dull job. “I come home covered in poop and mud a lot of the time,” says Stewart. Even with the messiness and emotional toll that working with sick animals can have, it is a labor of love. “Working with animals is a lifestyle, not a hobby.”