News

When the first migratory birds hit the skies in spring 2022, trouble came with them. Over the past year in Europe, a deadly disease called highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was circulating and hitched a ride on birds making their spring migration in North America.

Wild animals such as raptors don’t adhere to human borders like those outlining states and countries. They also don’t exist in a vacuum and are impacted by the human, animal, and environmental factors around them.

As the year comes to a close, we have more to be thankful for than ever before. It has been an incredibly challenging year with an unprecedented outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) hitting our wild birds harder than we have ever seen.

As clearly witnessed over the past few years with COVID-19 in people and highly pathogenic avian influenza in birds, diseases can cause a wide range of challenges and issues for humans and wildlife alike.

Meet Samantha, a 30+ year old subarctic great horned owl that has been with The Raptor Center since 1992.

Raptors that are permanently under human care frequently outlive their wild counterparts. This leads to geriatric health issues that we don't see in wild birds. The Raptor Center is committed to researching and setting the standard for caring for these unique health concerns in older raptor ambassadors.

This issue of Raptor Release is all about "animal welfare." But just what does that mean and how do we practice that at The Raptor Center? We're excited to bring you this edition of Raptor Release as we are leading the charge in best practices in animal welfare.

See how The Raptor Center is responding to highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, a strain of bird flu currently spreading across the United States.

Raptors undergo a thorough process to take wing as educational ambassadors. See what it takes to train raptors for this unique role, including exclusive video of some of these techniques.

The Raptor Center is leading the way caring for raptors in need thanks to our outstanding community of supporters.