Anyone who appreciates wildlife, especially raptors, owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Patrick Redig. 

When he earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at the University of Minnesota (UMN) in 1974, proven surgical techniques specific to birds were few and virtually unknown. Protocols for the safe use of anesthesia in birds were largely trial and error. Rehabilitation practices that would preserve a bird’s “wildness” were nonexistent. The chances of saving an injured raptor were slim.

Redig’s passion for raptors fueled his curiosity, creativity, courage, and persistence in shaping the field of avian medicine. Fifty years later, after a globe-trotting, experienced-everything type of career, which includes 20 years as director of The Raptor Center at UMN, Redig is taking home another accolade. The University is bestowing its highest non-degree award for distinguished alumni, the Outstanding Achievement Award, on Redig.

“I can only accept this award with the understanding that it also acknowledges the thousands of people—staff members, students, volunteers, donors, agency personnel, and the University of Minnesota—that have been inspired by my passion and contributed generously and ceaselessly to ensuring the well-being of raptors and the world we share,” Redig says. 

A medical pioneer

Redig found his passion early in life. Just as society was recognizing its obligation to clean air and water for all, and protections for endangered species, he completed his veterinary degree with a keen interest in the then-emerging field of avian medicine. He capably built upon the work of noted University veterinarian Ben Pomeroy in poultry medicine to advance clinical and surgical remedies. 

Among Redig’s accomplishments are:

• developing the hybrid fixator, a highly effective, easily applied, versatile, and inexpensive orthopedic appliance that made it possible for the first time to surgically repair delicate avian bones. Adapted from small animal veterinary orthopedics, Redig shaped and refined the device for use across a wide spectrum of avian patients. He made the hybrid fixator freely available to anyone who wanted to use it and spent the next 25 years teaching others in venues across the globe to use it. The device has allowed veterinarians to return thousands of injured birds to our skies.
• making important contributions to the development of safe and effective anesthesia agents and protocols for their use in avian patients.
• groundbreaking work also improved veterinary techniques for treating heretofore incurable diseases such as bumblefoot and the fungal infection, aspergillosis.
• assembling and encouraging the team at The Raptor Center (TRC) that pioneered the housing, handling, rehabilitation, and physical conditioning techniques that have become the “gold standard” for preparing injured raptors to return to the wild. His leadership led to the training of generations of rehabilitation volunteers and professionals.
• developing and introducing to the veterinary curriculum several courses and clinical rotations in avian veterinary medicine.

Dr. Susan Orosz, an avian veterinarian and frequent co-author and co-presenter with Redig, summarizes his contributions to the field of avian medicine: “He developed novel techniques and was constantly refining ways to improve on them to enhance surgical success. Over the years, those have been solidified into principles that demonstrate that his work is truly revolutionary. He is, with no question, the ‘Father of Avian Orthopedics.’"

An enduring legacy

Co-founding The Raptor Center in 1974 with faculty member Dr. Gary Duke and nurturing its development as the executive director and head clinician for more than 20 years is a key component of Redig’s legacy. 

Today, TRC routinely treats more than 1,000 raptors annually, with extensive private support and a large network of committed volunteers. TRC has continued Redig’s legacy of using research to address raptor health problems such as highly pathogenic avian influenza, toxicity related to rodenticides and lead, the impact of wind turbines on raptors, and collecting data from wildlife rehabilitation centers to improve their standard of care. Through internships, residencies, raptor care and medicine workshops, and the Raptor Academy for avian professionals, as well as public tours and classroom programs, TRC educates tens of thousands of people annually.

The Raptor Center’s balanced tripartite mission reflects an insight that Redig has shared with audiences for decades. 

“Without public understanding about raptors, their environment, and our relationship to both, conservation in general, and raptor conservation in particular, cannot happen. And it has to be based on science, not on opinion about how things work,” he says. 

The Gabbert Raptor Center building on the Twin Cities campus in St. Paul, with its public enclosures for raptors, educational spaces and displays, hospital, rehabilitation facilities, and research labs, furthers this mission. Completed in 1988 under Redig’s guidance, the building served as a beacon of achievement in avian conservation medicine. 

“There was not another place like this one anywhere else in the world, and those that came after followed this model,” says Dr. Miguel Saggese, a former graduate student and veterinary resident who is now a professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif.  

Conserving life

As a 14-year-old in northern Minnesota, Redig was incensed to learn that the shooting of wild raptors remained a common occurrence in the 1960s. His passion to save “these beautiful creatures” inflamed him, and he worked to become a falconer. As his knowledge grew, he pursued training in the biology and medical care of raptors—a choice that led Redig to the University of Minnesota’s veterinary program.

Based on his early veterinary clinic experiences, Redig knew that exposure to lead was a problem for raptors and a wide variety of birds. In 1978, Redig joined a team that found more than half of the Canada geese killed and analyzed at the Lac Qui Parle Wildlife Refuge in southwest Minnesota contained lead. 

This and subsequent studies led to Minnesota requiring the use of nontoxic ammunition in 1987 for waterfowl hunting, and a similar nationwide ban for waterfowl hunters in 1991 following a five-year phase-in. Redig’s scientific evidence gave regulators the scientific basis to take action. 

In the words of retired Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN-DNR) Nongame Wildlife Program director, Carrol Henderson, Redig’s work has “saved not only many bald eagles, but thousands and probably millions of America’s ducks and geese.”

In the 1970s, the number of breeding pairs of peregrine falcons east of the Rocky Mountains had dropped to zero. Where others saw only loss, the falconer in Redig saw opportunity. Working with his fellow falconers, Redig’s team obtained captive-bred chicks for release across nine Midwestern states and worked in tandem with biologists in two Canadian provinces on similar efforts. 

Years of experimentation and learning culminated in the first wild-produced peregrine fledgling atop a Minneapolis skyscraper in 1986. The successful reintroduction program became a sensation, and the peregrine falcon was removed from the Endangered Species List in 1999. By the 2024 breeding season, a total of 235 nesting pairs raised 486 young peregrines across the nine-state region.

Redig’s expertise in species conservation and lead toxicity was noticed by conservationists working to save the California condor from extinction. As a result, Redig was recruited to head the medical team working to reduce lead exposures as part of the California Condor Recovery Program. 

His influence on avian conservation has spread worldwide, as noted by Dr. Michael Lierz, at the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen in Germany.

“Much of the work he did had an impact on other conservation projects around the world, like peregrine conservation in Europe, endangered eagle conservation in Asia, and vulture conservation in India,” Lierz says. 

An advocate and mentor

Unfortunately, one of Redig’s passion projects remains a dream unfulfilled. Exposure to spent lead ammunition and fishing tackle remains an important health risk to raptors. He collaborated with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to launch a “Get the Lead Out” public education campaign, which continues to persuade outdoors enthusiasts to choose nontoxic alternatives. In retirement, Redig continues to advocate for bans on lead in support of legislative proposals to ban the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle.

As a trailblazing clinician, researcher, and conservationist, it is not surprising that today’s global leaders in avian medicine and conservation can trace their roots to Redig. There are few educational techniques that Redig has not mastered, making his impact in didactic and clinical courses at the University; professional master classes at international conferences; training, advising, and mentorship of graduate students and medical interns and residents; and online webinars.

The University’s award further recognizes Redig’s life and work, which have defined the field of avian medicine and conservation. His legacy as an inventor of orthopedic surgical techniques, co-founder of The Raptor Center, a sought-after expert on wildlife conservation, and as a gifted educator and mentor will endure. Redig’s story inspires new veterinarians and conservationists to address new challenges. He made the University of Minnesota a global center for raptor medicine.