Ozzie

Turkey Vulture

Our mission at Humane Indiana Wildlife & Rehabilitation Center is to rehabilitate wildlife and release them back to their natural environment, once they’re healthy and are capable of surviving on their own. In some cases, however, due to injuries sustained before they were brought to us, it would not be safe to release them to fend for themselves. Fortunately for Humane Indiana Wildlife, some animals remain in our care and become wildlife ambassadors. They help us provide wildlife education through our wildlife talks in our community, throughout the state, and during our kids camps.

Ozzie is a non-releasable Turkey Vulture who came from our friends at Wildcat Creek Wildlife Center in Delphi, Indiana, after being found on the ground near a nursing home as a young bird. There, he was placed with other young, orphaned vultures until they were ready for release in the fall of 2021. After release, all the other young vultures left the area except for Ozzie, who sought out attention from the center's staff. Clearly, Ozzie was too interested in people for his own good. Their team was able to get him back into an enclosure without much difficulty and they contacted our team to see if we would be interested in Ozzie joining our ambassador team. Upon arrival at our facility, Ozzie was also diagnosed with West Nile, a disease that he likely had as a youngster that impacted his feather health and development. Ozzie is one of our most social and interactive ambassadors that can be seen on our property. While not ready to go out to programs quite yet, he is able to be viewed daily.