It doesn’t look like much. The floors are covered with white streaks of feces and shreds of dead mice. The air smells strongly of birds.

Two loose vultures prowl the premises, nipping at visitors’ shoestrings.

But the Wildlife Care Clinic, buried in two inconspicuous rooms in the College of Veterinary Medicine, is a sophisticated refuge for a variety of injured wild animals who would die without the clinic’s resources and dedicated staff members.

Teams of veterinarians, volunteers and work-study students care for the injured birds, mammals and reptiles around the clock. Dr. Mary Ann Nieves manages the clinic, consulting with students regarding care in specific cases and often performing surgery to repair animals’ injuries.

Undergraduate students hired as employees feed the animals daily and provide basic care procedures; night feeders come in late to defrost mice and rats for the predatory birds. Volunteers arrive when their schedules permit to clean floors, mats and perches.

The clinic was founded in 1984 as a nonprofit organization concerned with maintaining and preserving wildlife in the state of Iowa and throughout the Midwest. The clinic is prepared to care for and rehabilitate animals from bats to Canada geese to mice.

The healing process begins when someone brings an injured animal to the clinic. The animal is evaluated and then housed in a holding pen, incubator or steel cage , said Leslie Reed, an employee at the clinic and junior in animal ecology.

Sometimes the animal only needs to be rehydrated with a dextrose solution and given a few days’ rest in a safe place.

Students learn to take skin scrapes and blood samples and to give injectable medicines. Most animals are given a cherry-flavored penicillin solution to prevent infection. In extreme cases, the animal may require surgery lasting a few hours and costing between $300 and $400.

Reed said wing pins are one of the most common surgeries, and if successful, can return birds to flying.

Although Nieves uses operation techniques similar to those used on domestic animals, Reed said, extra care must be taken with wild animals who are often highly stressed.

Nieves said surgeons must be aware of birds’ delicate and fragile structures, so they don’t accidentally damage healthy areas while trying to repair injured ones.

In one case, workers cared for a pelican brought in with an injured wing. After its wing was immobilized the rehabilitation seemed to go well. But when students removed the bandaging, they noticed a fragment of wing imbedded with feathers and bone-like material had fallen off.

Concerned, Reed and her co-worker Heather Reynolds, sophomore in animal ecology, asked Dr. Michael Loenser, adjunct instructor of veterinary clinical sciences, to evaluate.

Radiographs showed the pelican was missing bones in the injured wing. Apparently the area had become gangrenous and did not heal properly.

“We try our best, but sometimes these things don’t work out,” Loenser said.

Although the pelican was probably not in pain, he would be unable to live normally once released. At first the team caring for him thought about keeping him for education, but eventually decided euthanasia was the best choice.

“He’s not a pet,” Loenser said. After an injection, the pelican quietly died.

Reed, who has worked at the clinic as a volunteer and employee for two and a half years, said euthanasia was hard for her to get used to at first.

“You’re not used to having an animal alive one minute and then dead the next,” she said. “It’s not hard for me to do anymore because I hate to see suffering.”

Some animals are more fortunate. Although surgery is not always successful, some of them can be kept for educational purposes.

Then there are the success stories. Many of them occur with birds who have broken wings and are rehabilitated in a few months, or with young animals often brought in during the spring.

Reed said baby animals are hand-fed formula, taking care not to injure them or allow them to imprint on humans. At a suitable age, the animals are sheltered outside for a few weeks and then released into the wild.

“We go to Peterson Pits a lot or McFarland Park, far away from the public,” Reed said.

As she spoke about releasing healed and rehabilitated animals back into the wild, she smiled and said, “It’s the best thing in the world.”