The Raptor Center to release three raptors back into the wild Saturday as part of 50th anniversary celebration

The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota is kicking off its 50th anniversary celebration on Saturday by publicly releasing three raptors back into the wild at Carpenter Nature Center in Hastings.

The 50th anniversary comes during what looks to be TRC’s busiest year ever with the number of birds treated at the center outpacing record numbers set in 2016 by 15 percent.

“Probably part of the reason is we rely on the public to find these birds and bring them into us,” said TRC Medical Director, Dr. Dana Franzen-Klein. “People are more aware that wildlife rehabilitation is a resource in our community. People are finding birds more, bringing them to us, and we’re able to help those animals and learn from them.”

Raptors, according the Dr. Franzen-Klein, are able to help better tell the story of what’s happening in the natural world.

“They are predators and higher up in the food tree and ecosystem.
So if there’s problems going ono with raptors such as poisoning, or injuries it can tell us a lot about the health of our environment.”

Each bird that comes to TRC goes through a complete physical examine to determine if they were exposed to any toxins, extent of injuries, or if they have any infectious diseases. Many of the birds come to TRC due to accidental injuries, or problems associated with people.

“In spring and early summer we get a lot of babies in,” Dr.
Franzen-Klein said. “Raptors have kind of adapted to living in an urban environment so when babies are learning to fly, they end up on the ground in precarious situations which is a normal part of the process of growing up and learning how to fly. In a human environment, they need a little help to get out of trouble.”

TRC will release three different raptors back into the wild on Saturday as part of 50 ^th anniversary celebration at Carpenter Nature Center in Hastings. The release allows the public to see firsthand how their commitment to TRC makes a difference.

“We try each year to have a public release event in the fall because we rely on the public to be able to do the work that we do. The public finds the birds and lets us know they’re injured. We have an amazing network of volunteers. And our clinic is almost entirely supported by donations.”

And for Franzen-Klein, releases, are a full circle moment.

“That’s why we all do what we do. We’re so passionate about our work to help raptors and the improve health of raptors in our environment. Ultimately our goal is to release them back into the wild. These birds go through a big journey from being found with major injuries that we need to medically treat, and then, we have to get them back into shape because they’ve been in cage rest for several weeks. It’s a lot of time and individualized care that we provide to these birds.”

Saturday’s event in Hastings runs from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
and includes a variety of family-friendly games, educational booths, and ambassadors from The Raptor Center.