Birds of a feather heal together at Raptor Conservation Alliance

The Cass County recovery center had a record year in a long history of helping birds of prey.

CASS COUNTY, Neb. (KLKN) – Nestled right between Eagle and Elmwood is a house that, at first, seems like any other good Nebraska farm. Chickens, some dogs, a few sheds, all dominate the landscape until you notice the outliers: eagles, owls, and other raptors, or birds of prey. That’s because this is the Raptor Conservation Alliance headquarters.

Betsy Finch has been at this since 1976 when the local chapter of the Audubon Society decided to make a difference.

“Since I was president”, she laughs, “I had to line up the state and federal permits, line up the people, line up the veterinarians, and food supply. I got so interested in working with the birds that I stayed with it.”

Their mission is simple. Volunteers, around 50 of them, from all over the state, bring injured raptors to the center to get patched up and back on the hunt.

Betsy has been doing this for 46 very productive years, and in that time she says, “We’ve probably handled, I’d say, maybe 14,000 raptors.”

The Conservation Alliance is a sort of spiritual successor to the Raptor Rescue Nebraska program, which makes up the bulk of Betsy’s work. Even though some things have changed, she’s not slowing down a bit.

“Last year was our first full year as Conservation Alliance”, she says. “We had a record number of 664 birds. We were busy.”

With her husband Doug as a raptor wrangler of sorts, Betsy is able to take care of around fifty to sixty birds at any one time. It’s all worth it to see a bird on the mend.

“Sometimes you get the feeling they know you’re trying to help them”, she says, as she applies ointment to an Eagle’s injured leg.

Eventually, the birds are ready to spread their wings in the big flight pens, their last rite of passage before they can be released. Betsy says they always “make sure they’re strong enough to go before we send them back”.

There are always birds in need. Here, they’ve got a place where they’re always going to be taken care of so they can soar again. If you want to help them out with that mission, you can learn everything you need to know at the RCA website.