Rescued snowy owl.

[Lee Borgersen]

       Rescued snowy owl in Illinois going to Alaska.


URBANA, Ill.  — Caregivers of an injured snowy owl rescued from a central Illinois field earlier this year say the bird has recovered and will be sent to Alaska.

The News-Gazette in Champaign reports Qigiq will be flown this weekend to the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka. University of Illinois surgeon Dr. Julia Whittington says the owl will undergo rehabilitation to prepare him to re-enter the wild.

Whittington repaired the bird’s broken wing after he was found in a Tolono field last January and brought to the University of Illinois Wildlife Medical Clinic. The doctor says the Alaska center already has a cage ready.

Snowy owls aren’t common in Illinois. Whittington says some of the birds may have migrated south for more territory and food.

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A second year veterinary student, holds a snowy owl named Qigiq at the at the University of Illinois Wildlife Medical Clinic in Urbana, as Dr. Julia Whittington checks out the bird.