Fly Like an Eagle

Eagle, originally uploaded by ramseybean.

Today William and I explored the Willowbrook Wildlife Preserve in Glen Ellyn. It is a lovely place that does so much to save and help wildlife in the area. There are many animals on display that have been saved from certain death but can't be released back into the wild due to a disability or they have become too tame. William and I were reading the stories about all of the animals who have become caught in soccer goal nets. The wildlife staff have de-tangled owls, opossum and rabbits from the nets. It never occurred to me that it was such a problem In some instances they (usually a person or a police officer) just cuts the net away around the animal and brings the animal in to be untangled.

There were many success stories where animals were released again into the wild. All of the animals we saw are permanently at the wildlife preserve. This Golden Eagle in this picture was awesome and huge. Evidently he had some sight issues from an accident so now he lives in this giant cage with a Bald Eagle.  We saw a bobcat - and the remains of it's last meal (blech!), foxes, a turkey vulture, raccoons, opossums, and lots of variations of owls (that was super cool in my book). 

William's favorites were the bunnies.  We sat outside the bunny cage for ages watching them do super exciting things like chew and blink.  Poor Will was dying to pet them but the staff was very busy and their policy is not to touch the animals, although these bunnies looked rather domestic to me.  So we just sat and watched and came back and watched some more.  We went to say goodbye to the bunnies before we left and once we got outside William burst into tears.  I hugged him and he just sobbed.  Once he had pulled it together he told me he was sad because he wanted his own bunny to pet.  What a sweet boy!  

We encourage everyone to visit!  Willowbrook Wildlife Preserve