[mou] A warm thanks from The Raptor Center

[Lisa Koch]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, MOU members and birders.  We at The Raptor=
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Center are very grateful for your support and have been overwhelmed by your=
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responses. To date, we have admitted 103 great gray owls, 3 northern=20
hawkowls and 6  boreal owls. While not all the owls survive or become=20
surgical patients, we are still working very hard to treat and rehabilitate=
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the ones we can.  To come up with the cost of rehabilitating the owls we=20
are treating, we have used average costs based on whether a bird received=20
orthopedic surgery or medical care.

Conservation and education are extremely vital issues that we at The Raptor=
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Center are intimately involved in.  Many of you know The Raptor Center for=
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our rehabilitation efforts because public release of wild raptors is so=20
inspiring and news worthy.  Our work is much larger than that, however. We=
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have an international veterinary training focus that has resulted in over=20
250 veterinarians from 26 countries being trained by us in the past 30=20
years; many of these veterinarians are now doing conservation work around=20
the world. Our rehabilitation work is part of our service mission; it is a=
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vital piece that helps engage and connect the public (over 150,000 people=20
reached each year) to the natural world, along with conservation and=20
behavior-changing messages. The third piece of our mission is research in=20
avian medicine and surgery.  All three of these pieces are closely=20
interconnected and dependent on each other; they also all share the same=20
operating budget.

The Raptor Center is incredibly grateful for the support of the birding=20
community during this irruption =96 we have had an outpouring of people=20
willing to transport birds and help us wherever possible, as well as=20
financial response. We invite everyone to our open house on Sunday, April=20
3rd, from 11am to 4pm. As a result of this year=92s phenomenon, we will have=
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a video system set up to observe great gray owls in a flight room, where=20
they are living while undergoing flight rehabilitation, as well as a=20
beautiful new educational mount of a great gray owl.  Please introduce=20
yourself as an MOU member supporting the Give A Hoot fund =96 we are anxious=
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to meet you and thank you in person.

If you do have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.  And=
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thanks again for all your support.

The Raptor Center Staff & Volunteers=20