Opossum with frostbite? No problem for Willowbrook vet

Veterinarian Jen Nevis never knows what sort of patient she'll be seeing from day to day at the Willowbrook Wildlife Center.

On Tuesday, for example, she found herself examining a pied-billed grebe at the Glen Ellyn facility.

"It's something new every day," she said. "I never get bored."

The pied-billed grebe is a bird that can only land and take off from water. Nevis suspects her patient may have mistaken the reflection of ice from a driveway or puddle for a pond and ended up helpless on the ground.

Her mission Tuesday was to make sure its bottom feathers were properly interlocked and waterproofed so the bird could safely be released back into the wild.

Nevis says she's been treating wildlife at the center for two years, but got her start in Wisconsin working with farm animals.

A bad back led her to return to her native Glen Ellyn, where she concentrated on treating cats and dogs. Now she gets to see more exotic animals full time at the rehabilitation and education center operated by the DuPage Forest Preserve District at 525 S. Park Blvd.

Among her patients: owls, hawks, rabbits, geese - and even the occasional opossum suffering from frostbite.

She says her most unusual patient was a tundra swan, a creature that isn't native to this area.

There is one group of wild animals that aren't treated at Willowbrook: those that were taken in as pets and then discarded, such as domestic rats, land turtles and even alligators. Those animals, she says, are turned over to animal rescue groups.

For more information on Willowbrook, call (630) 942-6200 or visit www.willowbrookwildlife.org.