Events Calendar
In This Section
Hobo union picks Akron for national convention
Two remarkable people enter centennial spotlight
'Docs Who Rock' delivers excitement
Older adults can take steps to prevent abuse by their relatives and hucksters
Museum partygoers SWITCH up the fun
Kids popping pills that can kill
Most Read Stories
Family found dead in Ohio home
Man gets 3 years in prison for having sex with horse
Brown still testing Cavs' lineup
Kosar would be wrong call as GM
Take comfort in knowing Browns could be bigger losers
Sex-toy study at Duke University raises some eyebrows
Akron man turns himself in after authorities turn up heat
Robbers order bar patrons to empty pockets
Blogs:
Pets:
Humane Society telethon short of goal
The Heldenfiles:
Patrick McManamon:
There's no argument against Holmgren; it just has to happen
Akron Zips:
The morning after
Tribe Matters:
Tribe makes roster moves
Cleveland Browns:
Lewis doesn't like boycott
Kent State Sports:
Kent State falls to Akron, 20-28
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Knicks
Buckeye Blogging:
Weekly ‘B’ Deck Report – New Mexico St.
Varsity Letters:
Wrestling, bowling teams prepare for season
All Da King's Men:
If It Looks Like Islamic Terrorism…
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Dems Message To Women: Don't Enjoy The Sex
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (62) The Stupak Amendment
See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler
Car Chase:
Perfect Weather for an Autumn Drive
Let's Talk Real Estate:
RUMORS: Downtown Restaurant Explosion
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.
Sound Check:
The Black Keys to perform benefit concert at Musica on November 27
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
Akron Gamer:
New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
Medina Raptor Center brings feathered predators to health
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Nov 07, 2008
CHATHAM TWP.: Laura Jordan has a good reason for wanting a hat before she goes into a cage at the Medina Raptor Center to feed fresh chunks of rat to a hungry bald eagle.
Migisi, the 8-year-old female eagle with a 51/2-foot wing span, sometimes runs her beak through Jordan's hair as a sign of affection when she is holding the 10-pound injured bird.
Jordan must then comb her hair to get rid of any leftover bits that dropped from Migisi's beak.
That's just the way of life at the 18-year-old center in western Medina County.
''I'm just giving these birds a second chance,'' she said. ''If it works, it works. I feel that what I'm doing makes a difference.''
So far this year, Jordan and 25 dedicated volunteers have cared for a record 371 birds — 40 percent of them raptors, or birds of prey. In 2007, the center treated 353 injured birds.
The injured raptors include bald eagles, peregrine falcons and an array of owls and hawks.
Getting hit by vehicles is the No. 1 cause of bird injury, followed by poisoning, getting shot and collisions with wires and windows.
Jordan, a 57-year-old mother of two, is one of about 90 animal rehabilitators with state and federal licenses in Ohio. She helps birds from nine counties, including Summit, Stark, Medina and Wayne, regain their ability to fly.
Her nonprofit center is one of only a few in Ohio that takes in hawks, owls and other birds of prey.
Damon Greer, biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said his agency relies on Jordan to help them with injured bald eagles and falcons from Akron and Cleveland.
''For an injured bird, the Medina Raptor Center is a top-notch rehab facility,'' said volunteer Liz Leach, 56, of Copley Township. ''We aren't fancy and glitzy, but instead are dedicated to making things better for the birds in our care. . . . We're small and dedicated. It's a wonderful place.''
Though small birds are brought to the center, Jordan goes out to pick up the injured hawks and owls. She works with local veterinarians to get X-rays, surgeries and medication.
An injured bird recuperates in one of 56 outdoor wooden cages, most of which were built by her husband, Bill.
Rehabilitation takes place in flight cages up to 125 feet in length. Helping birds build up strength to fly again can, depending on the injury, take weeks or even months.
About 70 percent of the birds Jordan takes in eventually are released. Some have to be put down because they cannot be saved. Others that cannot go back into the wild will be added to the 18 birds she keeps for educational programs or will be shipped elsewhere.
Deciding that a bird is capable of surviving on its own again is a big responsibility, Jordan said.
Her raptors must pass one last test before they can leave: They must be able to capture live mice.
Jordan relies on donations and speaking fees to keep her facility open. Feeding the birds costs $10,000 a year, she said.
A typical hawk each day will eat 61/2 mice, which cost 35 cents apiece. Jordan raises some mice and buys others. She gets rats for free from a research laboratory in Michigan.
In the 1980s, Jordan co-founded the Medina County chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That led her to start caring for injured raccoons, rabbits, skunks and squirrels in 1985. She started the raptor center in 1990.
''No one wanted to fuss with birds that are nasty and with birds that are dangerous,'' she said. ''I was always intrigued by raptors and how beautiful they are.''
Jordan, who said she has never been injured by her birds, admits that she has gotten emotionally attached to them, especially in her early days.
Ten years ago, she took in an eagle with a broken wing from Seneca County. Veterinarians said it appeared that the bird had been nicked by an arrow.
The eagle — it was her first — ate quail from her hand, and Jordan said she sensed that the bird knew she was helping it.
Two days after coming in, the eagle was in bad shape from internal bleeding. An eagle-to-eagle blood transfusion was arranged with a captive bird in Bay Village. The injured eagle improved, but then worsened again.
A tiny camera inserted into the wound finally found a still-bleeding artery. That was repaired, and the bird recovered and was released back into the wild.
Running the center is a full-time job. Jordan typically spends 71/2 hours a day there seven days a week. And that doesn't include night checks and treatments or picking up injured birds.
Jordan said her No. 1 goal is to nurse her birds back to health so they can be released again.
''It's a wonderful feeling and I'm very happy when it happens,'' she said. '' . . . I'm not sad and there are no regrets. . . . I'm just glad when they can go back into the wild.''
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
CHATHAM TWP.: Laura Jordan has a good reason for wanting a hat before she goes into a cage at the Medina Raptor Center to feed fresh chunks of rat to a hungry bald eagle.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Posted 06:05 PM, 11/07/2008
BIRDS: A SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY TO CREATION
The fact that birds exist is another example of how unscientific biological evolution really is. To think that a bird, whose DNA code is trillions of times more complicated than a nuclear submarine could possibly evolve from some other animal by blind chance over millions of years is so unscientific that it floors me when I meet an adult who actually believes such nonsense.
However, this is what's taught at places like The Cleveland Museum of Natural History where cosmological, geological, and biological evolution are promoted as "facts of science" when nothing could be further from the truth.
Thank God there are thousands of scientists around the world today who are teaching us that God is the Creator of everything and that those impossible theories of evolution were really just invented to get the universe, earth, and all life into existence without having to attribute it to the Creator: Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God Bless
Sonino John Paul Scardelletti - A Christian
