Injured owl gets help thanks to Keokuk Animal Services
KEOKUK — An injured screech owl got help from Keokuk Animal Services animal shelter earlier this month, though later the owl succumbed to his injuries.
Keokuk Animal Service Officer Tom Crew said he got a call from an Illinois Department of Natural Resources officer about the owl found at Dadant beekeeping supplies across the river in Hamilton, Illinois.
“He contacted me and turned it over to us, because we could take it to a rehab center,” he explained.
The owl “had run into something and couldn’t hold its head right and had a fractured wing,” said Crew, who operates the city-run animal shelter. “This was a little screech owl. It was somewhat alert, wouldn’t open its eyes much. It had some neurological problems.”
A post on the Keokuk Animal Services Facebook page later thanked “our good friend Ellen Norman for transporting him on such short notice.”
The post gave an update, saying, the owl “has a fractured distal humerus.”
Sadly, later the owl passed away, according to Wildthunder Wildlife and Animal Rehabilitation and Sanctuary, a group Crew said his agency works with when they get owls and other raptors from time to time.
Wildthunder is located in Independence, Iowa, north of Cedar Rapids, and they meet Keokuk shelter staff halfway to pick up an injured wild animal.
“They are federally licensed to handle raptors and they have a rescue center. Every now and then we get a great horned owl caught up in a fence, or other bird of prey,” said Crew. He explained all raptors are protected species, and so shelter staff always call DNR for permission when one is found injured.
“I’d say lately, we end up with (injured raptors) three-to-four times a year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the non-profit arm of his organization not funded by the city, Keokuk Animal Services Partners in Rescue, or, KASPIR, is again sponsoring a low-cost spay and neuter program, which has now been opened to include all of Lee County.
Vouchers for a spay or neuter, available at the shelter on the first business day of each month beginning at 1 p.m., cost $30.
“We do about $6,000 a year,” said Crew. “We sell nine (vouchers) a month, and we do it all year long.”
Dogs currently are the focus, as canine females “are going to be coming into heat right now,” Crew said.
“In the past seven years since I started this, it’s made a big difference on how many puppies and kittens are being brought in (to the shelter),” he explained. Those numbers “have been reduced dramatically.”
BFD welcomesnew firefighter
Burlington Fire Department has hired Jeff Krieger as a firefighter, BFD announced recently on Facebook.
Firefighter Krieger started with BFD on Nov. 28, 2022, and has been assigned to Shift 3.
He currently is in the National Guard serving as an aircraft powerplant repairer.
He is married to Abigail and has two daughters, ages 4 and 1.
According to the Facebook post, Krieger, a 2012 graduate of Burlington High School, grew up here with his parents and five brothers and three sisters, and liked industrial arts classes and fishing.
After high school, he worked in retail, then had a five-year career at Iowa State Penitentiary when he decided to pursue his dream of being a firefighter.
He took a chance and applied after seeing BFD was hiring, passed all requirements, then took and EMT class to improve his chances of being hired.
Firefighter Krieger has passed his EMT class and only needs to pass his national exam to be a certified EMT.
He enjoys spending time with his family, barbecues, hiking at Geode, fishing, and working on cars.
The post says Krieger is very grateful for this opportunity and for all the support he has received along the way, and BFD wishes him a long and happy career.
Brain tumor diagnosis
leads to incredible art
The artist for Art Center of Burlington’s upcoming exhibit, “Art for the Soul,” has an amazing story, and the art center is inviting people to stop by and see his incredible abstract work.
An artist introduction is included on the art center’s announcement for the show.
“My name is Jeremy Johnson. I am forty-three years old. In 2009, I was diagnosed with an pilocystic astrocytoma. A brain tumor in my fourth ventricle of my brain and cerebellum along the brainstem,” the announcement says.
Johnson, who lives in Ottawa, Illinois, explains his view of art.
“Art is like the universe. It’s fluid, It’s transit, it is always changing. We are the universe forever changing. Trust it, flow with it, create with it … ”
Johnson relates his story on his website, www.myabstractartandapparel.com, saying he suffered from balance issues when he was younger, and was told it was due to inner ear problems.
When he visited a Chicago ENT surgeon to remove loose crystals in his ears, within two minutes, the doctor determined the problem was not that, but something in his brain.
After several tests, he received his diagnosis.
A doctor was correct in telling him he would always suffer from vertigo, and, bored, he decided to revisit his former love, art, and he decided that his trials were a blessing in disguise.
He’d always had natural artistic ability.
“I found what truly makes me happy and I believe abstract painting is what I was always meant to do,” he says.
People can meet Johnson at an Artist Reception and Discussion from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, at the art center, 301 Jefferson St., “and hear him tell more of his amazing story and how it inspired him to be the artist he is today,” the announcement says.
The Gallery Lounge will have wine and beer and charcuterie boards available, and live music that will start at 6 p.m.
The show is Feb. 2-25.
The art center is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
