URBANA, Ill. (WAND) - About a month ago, the Wildlife Medical Clinic at Illinois admitted an adult snapping turtle after it suffered some serious injuries.
The female turtle was hit by a car and had shell fractures, a facial fracture and a mandibular fracture. Just when they thought they saw the full trauma, after receiving the X-rays, they saw she had multiple leg injuries and a shoulder fracture, then found a fishing hook inside of her gastrointestinal tract.
After months of care, the turtle is finally in stable condition. Now, the clinic is taking this time to use that experience to share with both the public and its students.
Clinical volunteers say that because these species are rare, it's often difficult to determine what the best medicines are for each animal.
"There's very little research done on these species. A lot of it has to do with that they're uncommon species and there's not a lot of money going into these species," said medical director Sarah Reich.
She said the clinic is run on pure volunteers and it's been running because of the help of the community. Without the funds from community members, it can't run its practice efficiently.
"We do all the case work and any diagnostic and we do all the exams," said co-student manager Erica Bender.
Additionally, leaders want to remind the public that during this time of the year, turtles are often found on the roads. If anyone sees them, they're asked to please help them get to safety or bring them to the clinic for care if they have an injury.
At the end of the day, clinic leaders want to provide high-quality care to sick, injured, and orphaned wild animals, to provide training to future veterinary professionals and rehabilitation, and to educate the public on the importance of wildlife, the environment and conservation.
At this time, the clinic has about 40 turtles under its care. The snapping turtle will not be released into the wild until clinic leaders see her completely healed - a process which may take some time.
