“The main job in wildlife rehab is to release them back into the wild, which is where the Lord created them to be, so you can’t let your desire to be with them get in the way of the ultimate purpose.”
Gabriella Wiese, a junior majoring in general biology with a pre-veterinary focus, has gained valuable experience during her time at Union. She has worked at the campus’s raptor rehabilitation center since her freshman year and is currently undergoing training to care for the animals residing at White Hall.
“I feel like everyone as a kid went through a phase where they wanted to be a veterinarian. That was me, but the feeling never left,” Wiese said. “The dream and plan is to go to vet school and become a vet, and obviously I have a passion for animals, but I think further than that I have a passion for medicine and using the science behind medicine to help animals who can’t advocate for themselves.”
On Tuesdays and Fridays, Wiese is responsible for feeding the birds of prey at the raptor center and monitoring their recovery to ensure they are healing properly and efficiently in preparation for their eventual release back into the wild. The center is a registered Raptor Rehabilitation Center in Tennessee, often receiving injured raptors from the vet, roadside rescues and, on special occasions, the Memphis Zoo.
“Working at the rehab center has given me a passion for working in animal rehab. I had never had rehab experience like I have now working in the raptor center,” Wiese said. “Now I think that I want to do wildlife rehab for a job, and I don’t think that I would have said that before having this experience.”
Weise’s role in the center, along with other like-minded students, is to provide temporary care to injured or sick birds with the goal of releasing them back into the wild once fully recovered. However, not all animals are able to return to their natural habitats. Some suffer permanent injuries that prevent them from surviving on their own, while the other birds may not survive due to the severity of their condition.
“We have more deaths than success stories, so not only releasing them but we can’t get attached because of potential death,” Wiese said. “Last year was a really tough year. We had a lot of birds come through and had a lot of death. That’s just the harsh reality of wildlife rehab. But we are giving them a chance, because if we don’t take care of them then they won’t survive in the wild.”
A challenging aspect of working at the rehabilitation center that Wiese emphasized was that the workers must have an understanding that they need to refrain from becoming emotionally attached to the raptors in their care. She notes that if you are interested in working in wildlife rehab it is important to remember that the main job is to release them back into the wild and that comes with an understanding of not becoming emotionally invested in the animals.
“Last semester we had three baby owls, and we were up at the center bottle feeding them, and we all just wanted to cuddle them, but couldn’t because they are wild animals,” Wiese said. “With wildlife rehab, you aren’t supposed to be in contact with them for very long because they imprint on you, then won’t be able to survive in the wild when we release them.”
One Friday afternoon, Wiese went to the center to do her normal routine of taking care of and feeding the birds. When checking on the enclosure that housed two owls, she only found one. After looking around, Wiese found that a predator had somehow gotten one of the owls through the wire and killed it.
“You don’t know what will happen overnight,” Wiese said.
The reality is that each day can bring unexpected setbacks. Wiese’s time spent at the rehab center has seen both success and heartbreaks, due to the unpredictable nature of working with wildlife. While challenges arise, there will always be success stories that help fuel her passion for her work.
Wiese spoke about an experience that she had last semester with a great horned owl that the center had taken in due to a neurological injury. The owl was unable to fly or perch, behaviors typically expected of these birds, and exhibited signs of disorientation, likely due to a concussion. Remarkably, after spending a semester at the rehabilitation center, the owl made a full recovery — a rare outcome for birds with neurological injuries.
“That was probably one of my highlights working at the rehab center,” Wiese said. “The success stories keep you going.”
