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The Rehabilitation area incorporates various Nurseries, Surgery, Admittance, ICU (Intensive Care Unit), and
various Rehabilitation facilities. When an animal is brought to WWC, Admittance takes some basic information
and passes the animal to our staff and volunteer veternarians to examine. Depending on the injury, the treatment
may range from quiet rest time all the way up to surgery. In certain cases the animal may have to be
humanely euthanized as recovery is not possible. Serious cases and animals recovering from surgery are put
in ICU. Each animal gets a private cage and dark quiet time to rest and recover. Young animals that are orphaned
will start their stay at WWC in one of the nurseries.
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Once an animal has recovered it's health it may still need to rebuild it's strength. A hawk that hasn't flown in
a few weeks will need to strength up it's wing muscles, for example. Even though the animal is recovered it may
not be an ideal time to release it yet either (upcoming weather, lack of food sources, wrong season, etc). During the recovery
time the animals are kept in larger cages that provide additional room to exercise muscles and wings. A large number
of volunteers helps to clean, feed, and care for the animals both in rehab and on Exhibit. Please see our Rehabilitation
menu option above for more information on how you can join Willowbrook as a volunteer.
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When the time comes for release back to the wild, the location is carefully chosen to provide the animal
with the right eco-system and food and shelter sources. These locations are usually at the various DuPage County
Forest Preserves but where the animal is from and the time of year is also important. For example, a rare
endangered Wood Stork that is not normally found in this area ended up at Willowbrook. Arrangements were made
to have the animal flown to Florida which is a more appropriate habitat for it. A few times a year Willowbrook
invites the public to these releases. See the News and Events page for more information or check in the
Conservationist publication put out by the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.
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Other Nature Centers