Holding a snowy owl in his hands was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for bird rescuer Ken Reinert. It’s an experience he hopes he never has to repeat.

Snowy owl sightings have been thrilling people across northern Illinois this winter, but these occasional visitors from the Arctic face a lot of hazards — including humans and cars — when they venture outside their normal isolated tundra environment.

All signs point to a cicada-induced vitamin deficiency as the cause of a mystery disease that affected some birds during a 2021 emergence and now again in 2024.

The DuPage Forest Preserve District board, which operates and funds the center, approved a plan for a new clinic that meets 21st century needs and standards and promises to be the district's first net-zero building. 

The eagle was released back into the Cook County preserve where it was found New Year’s Day, bleeding profusely. The raptor quickly reunited with its mate after more than a month apart.

The snowy owl is being treated at Willowbrook Wildlife Center, where a bald eagle is recuperating from the same issue. Anticoagulants in rodenticides can be deadly to the birds of prey that eat poisoned rats, mice and other rodents.

Eagles don't eat rat poison, but they do eat the critters that take the bait. The powerful toxins keep blood from clotting, and a recently rescued eagle would have bled to death from a tiny cut, said the veterinarian caring for the bird. 

The U.S. needs a national strategy to deal with its plastic waste problem, which the country produces at a greater rate than the entire European Union combined, according to a new report. Interventions can’t come soon enough for wildlife.

Just because a baby animal is spotted on its own doesn’t mean it’s been abandoned or orphaned. Before “rescuing” the critter, call the experts.