Illinois Raptor Center Snowy dies from West Nile Virus

[Donna]

There are so many things I love about this job. There are a few that I just don't like. I see the death of animals on a regular basis and I have never liked it. I have grown to accept it, and understand that death is a part of nature, and in the last 10 or more years have grown numb to it because I have to to stay sane. Gettting attached eventually gets your heart broke in this world of birds of prey. There are the execptions to the numbness. Yeti, our beautiful female captive bred Snowy Owl has passed. She has been fighting the West Nile Virus for the last 5 days, and today the virus won. We saw the symptoms on Wednesday and brought her into the clinic and tried to keep her going. We did everything you can do, knowing well that basically there's nothing you can do to fight West Nile. We watched as she lost control of her whole body and then she just stopped being Yeti. We got her as a little downy chick in the summer of 2003 and watched her grow up in our clinic. She went on hundreds of programs, graced the cover of countless newspaers, and made people melt at just the sheer beauty of her powerful presence. She never had a mean bone in her body. I would have to say she was the tamest owl or bird of prey that I have ever met. She was only owl that I or Jane could ever hug. Her death has shaken us to the core. There have been great birds who have passed, and our hearts have been broke before, but never like this. This was an irreplaceable bird, nothing will ever fill this void. Jane and I will have this scar on our hearts till the day we die. I'm not sure what we are going to do without her. Yeti............you were the greatest, and you knew it. You also knew you were so spoiled by us, so I'll comfort myself by thinking you knew we loved you like no other. RIP yeti - spegetti mupet face. -

  So very sad and what a beautiful Snowy.

[MAK]

 

[carly]

 

[Kris G.]

Such a sad loss. 

[Donna]

Such a sad loss. 

Such a sad picture. Yes, I cried!