MUKWONAGO, WI — All clear for takeoff! The Wisconsin Humane Society released a peregrine falcon back into the wild on Monday.
Kizzmekia is less than a year old with lots of energy and a full life ahead of him.
His face says he’s ready for the wild, but the bandage on his left wing tells a story of some of life's early challenges.
"He was originally admitted with a fractured wing,” Crystal Sharlow-Schaefer, wildlife director at Wisconsin Humane Society said.
Kizzmekia was born in a WE Energies nest box and was named after Kizzmekia Corbett, an immunologist who helped design the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Kizzmekia was found injured in Milwaukee near 20th and St Paul. The Wisconsin Humane Society does not know how he was injured, but they took him in hoping for the best.
“This is a very rare occurrence when a falcon is injured. They're able to be rehabilitated to where they can survive once again,” said Mike Grisar with the WEC Energy Group.
For the past two months, the Wisconsin Humane Society worked diligently, hoping to get Kizzmekia back in the skies.
“Any injury that they suffer, they need to be healed 100 percent so when they're back in the wild, they can be at that peak level fitness again to defend their territory and hunt appropriately for their species,” Sharlow-Schaefer said.
Monday was the big day, finally, after a slow recovery of nearly two months and dedicated help - the world's fastest bird, is once again back in the friendly skies.
About 22 percent of peregrine falcons born in the wild here in Wisconsin hatched at WE Energies nesting facilities.
Nesting sites can be found HERE.
