Willowbrook Wildlife Center

Summer is a great time to visit the Willowbrook Wildlife Center. The Center is one of the educational facilities of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Its purpose is to rehabilitate injured animals for eventual release, when possible, and to educate the public "...on the biological and ecosystems current and native to this area." Children really love seeing the wild animals up close. To name just a few of the animals that call Willowbrook home - bald eagle, peregrine falcon, barn owl, turkey vulture, red fox, raccoon, opossum, and many more. There are naturalists available to tell about the animals. Admission is whatever you care to drop into the voluntary collection box just outside the door into the Center. Or perhaps you might want to bring in something on their wish list.

Three new residents to the Center were in the news. We have a bobcat that was hit by a car. It has recovered from its injuries, except for impaired vision. Because of the eye injury, the cat would not be able to survive in the wild. So we have him in a temporary home while we build him a larger enclosure.


The other two are a couple of Sandhill Cranes that we inherited with the St. James Farm Forest Preserve. They were part of a program to foster Whooping Cranes. Pui and Nebula will soon have a new enclosure at Willowbrook. The Concert for the Cranes was a benefit to help raise money for the new digs. (Concert photos)

Willowbrook Wildlife Center is located at 525 S. Park Boulevard in Glen Ellyn.
Phone: (630) 942-6200