Monday, April 28,1986
Campus/Area
University Dailv Kansan
7
On the mend
A barn owl stares down from a perch in his cage at the Prairie Raptor Project. Weigal said the bird was found when an old barn was torn down.
Project nurses birds of prey
Maure Weigal, director of the Prairie Raptor Project, prepares to place two young great horned owls in cage with an adult foster-parent owl. Weigal said the Project used the semi-wild, adult birds to raise orphaned owls, because raised by people could not be released into the wild when they grew into adults.
By M'Liss Bullock
Special to the Kansas
Sy Lilia Bunook
Special to the Kansan
Perched like a sultan on his throne, a majestic golden eagle stared coolly out through the slats of his cage with one red-tinged eye.
"Some fool took a rifle to him and blew out his right eye and part of his skull," explained Maure Weigal, of the Prairie Raptor Project.
The Project, a non-profit center near Salina, cares for sick, young or injured wild birds of prey, or raptors.
The eagle turned his head slightly at the sound of Weigal's voice, as if to show the results of the marksman's handwork.
The once-perfect bird, now crippled for life, seemed to symbolize the goals of the Project.
"Rebellitication is our first goal," Weigal said.
Last year the Project cared for 211 raptors, including hawks, owls, falcons, vultures and eagles. More than half were returned to the wild.
Most birds are brought to the center after being shot, poisoned or injured by cars. Some arrive from other wildlife care organizations, such as Wildlife Wildlife Rehabilitation Program which operates out of Malott Hall
Birds that need medical attention are taken to the Kansas State
Veterinary Medical Center, then are returned to the more natural setting of the Project to complete their recovery.
Twenty-four wooden cages stand against the tide of blowing prairie grass that surrounds the Project, which Weigal operates at his rural home. The cages, falling on each very occupant in narrow, linear beams.
A barn holds eight additional cages in an area that Weigal refers to as "intensive care."
Birds requiring the most attention stay in indoor cages and are moved outdoors as they heal. Some are eventually placed in a large, U-shaped flight cage where they can exert their wings before their wings are released
In another enclosure, orphaned saby owls are raised by foster parent owls.
Young owls are moved to a small flight cage before being released. Live mice are placed on the ground in the cage so that the owls will learn to hunt.
Weigal said it was difficult to decide whether certain birds, handicapped by previous injuries, should be given their freedom. Some similar rehabilitation centers release up to 80 percent of all the birds they treat, he said.
"When you start releasing those upper percentages, there's a morality factor to that," he said.
"Do you take an anw and make the decision to kill him yourself or do you release him and let him have a chance?"
The attitude of a handicapped bird helps him decide whether the bird should be released. Weal said.
"We see a tremendous ability of some birds to have the psyche to fight to survive," he said.
"Some of the birds are very passive after they're injured and others look at you saying, 'I don't care.' I want them to be. I'd like there."
Weigal spends from two hours to eight hours each day caring for his wild charges, aside from having a job in the insurance business.
Student interns from Kansas State University and other local community colleges help Weigal during school breaks and summers. Having students tutored in math talks and tours and to raise money to support the Project, Weigal said
Student interns also help by doing research, which is another of the Project's goals.
The center uses radiotelemetry equipment, tracking devices, to study imprinting in young birds. Imprinting is the bonding that occurs
between a young bird and its parent.
A bird reared by a human mother
bond to that person and will not be able to survive a normal wild bird would. Weigal said.
Releasing birds that have imprinted on humans is dangerous because the birds may continue to search or land on people. Weigai said.
"When you have an owl that can go through welding gloves with its one-and-a-half-inch talons, you have a lot of other hands, if you are or something else." Wheal said.
"What if you release a bird like that? What kind of risk would you be taking?" All it takes is one time."
The project is trying to discover whether imprinting can be reversed in birds raised by humans.
Human-imprinted owls are put through the same training program
as young birds raised by the center's foster parent owls, Weigal said.
They learn to hunt mice in the smaller flight cage, then are released in an isolated area with electronic devices attached to their bodies.
So far, staff members have been approached by the owls each time they returned to the release site.
"We haven't been able to reverse imprinting," Weigal said.
The Project will fulfill another of its goals this summer when it begins working with the Toptepe Zoo on a eagle re-introduction program.
The Topeka Zoo is one of only a
hardful of zoos in the country that has a breeding pair of golden eagles; the zoos hope to release some of the birds during in western Kansas, Weigal said.
Only six or seven active golden eagle nests exist in western Kansas.
The care and study of raptors is a relatively new field but it should be explored to show humans that in destroying their environment they eventually will destroy themselves, Weigal said.
"I'm trying to portray birds of prey is part of the environment and show sow they're being hurt by us," he said.
"I want to teach people that birds of prey are the top of the food chain and, lo and behold, so are we. When they are hurt, so are we."
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