Volunteers take over raptor rehab at Raptor Advocacy, Rehabilitation and Education

IOWA CITY - A young Coopers hawk found tangled in a chain-link fence with a horribly fractured right wing probably won't make it, according to Jodeane Cancilla and Luke Hart, co-founders of Eastern Iowa's newest raptor rehabilitation facility.

The little screech owl with the damaged right eye has a much better chance to recover, said Dr. Mary Ebert, an Iowa City veterinarian and key collaborator in RARE, which stands for Raptor Advocacy, Rehabilitation and Education.

Cancilla and Hart said they established RARE to care for birds like the hawk and the owl after the Macbride Raptor Project, a joint effort of Kirkwood Community College and the University of Iowa, ended its long-standing raptor rehabilitation program in August.

'I think all of us knew it was the right thing to do,” said Cancilla, who retired in June after 28 years with the Macbride Raptor Project, most of them as its coordinator.

'We want people to know we are the place to take injured birds. We are licensed, experienced and willing to help,” said Hart, who assisted Cancilla for more than eight years and briefly succeeded her after her retirement.

Hart and Cancilla said they were stunned to learn that the Macbride Raptor Project, after treating more than 150 birds per year for nearly three decades, would no longer support rehabilitation activities.

'I retired thinking I'd left the welfare of the birds in good hands,” Cancilla said.

It seems a waste that the facility's flight cage and store of treatment supplies would not be put to good use, she said.

The Macbride Raptor Project intends to focus on research and education, said its aptly named new assistant director, Shawn Hawks.

Hawks, who studied at Kirkwood in the early 1990s before earning his master's degree at North Dakota State University, said he is researching the preferred habitats of birds of prey.

Cancilla and Hart said they believe that rehabilitating sick and injured birds is much more than a 'feel good” activity.

'We have always tried to do what's best for the birds,” Hart said.

Ebert, whose Gentle Heart Pet Clinic serves as a temporary treatment center, said saving a bird 'might not matter to the species but it matters to the bird.”

Cancilla said RARE intends to fund itself through grants and donations.

RARE is registered as a non-profit corporation in Iowa and is seeking federal tax-exempt status, she said.

Donations can be sent to RARE, 818 Third Ave., Iowa City 52245. To report a bird in need of assistance, call RARE's hotline, (319)-248-9770.