This summer, PC senior Matty May has been putting her passions to work at the Carolina Raptor Center.  Located in Huntersville, NC, the Carolina Raptor center dedicates itself to environmental stewardship and the conservation of birds of prey through education, research and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned raptors.

While Matty has been interning at the Raptor Center she has learned:

• How to feed emaciated raptors;
• To properly give medications and SQ injections and fluids to the raptors;
• How to feed the raptors a proper diet and exercise them based on their species;
• To properly monitor anesthesia during surgery;
• How to weigh the birds and complete their physical examinations.

While with the Raptor Center, Matty has even gotten to see firsthand the surgical procedures that save the lives of the birds that come through the Raptor Center doors.  She experienced the repair of a broken tibiotarsus in an American Kestrel and the re-attaching of the pectoral muscles of a Red-Tail Hawk that had been slashed off by a huge extra-long car antenna. Both of the birds are doing great and on the road to recovery!

Matty’s internship allows her to take what she has learned in the classroom at PC and apply it to real world situations.  Even though she was taloned by a Red-Shoulder Hawk (she’ll never forget her gloves again!) Matty is considering continuing her volunteer work with the Raptor Center next summer.

Check out some pictures from Matty’s internship!