The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota provides
quality medical care and rehabilitation for all injured,
sick and orphaned wildlife, and shares its knowledge
with the people who care about them.

A Trumpeter Swan that was illegally shot is prepped for x-rays at WRC. The swan is first anesthetized to reduce stress and pain.

This x-ray shows some of the pellets (round white objects), one of which caused a fracture of the swan's ulna (located in its wing). You can faintly see the outline of the wing wrap around the wing in this x-ray. The swan will be at WRC for several weeks, maybe a month while its wing heals. Healing a wing is more than just applying a wing wrap though...

Muscles quickly atrophy and if not kept supple, the fractured wing may not heal correctly. So we do physical therapy twice a week! Here, vet Renee and CVT Katie anesthetize the swan and remove its wing wrap in preparation for a physical therapy session. You can view a video of the PT session here.