Jim Tibensky first noticed the young swan in a pond off Smith Road near St. Charles in June. Tibensky, 61, of Wayne, a kayak enthusiast who regularly paddled there all summer, watched the swan as it grew.

"It could not fly, but it would scoot away from me pretty quickly," Tibensky said. "It was healthy. Then just before Christmas, it was not doing anything to stay away from me. Even a week before, it was perfectly healthy. This was a whole different animal."

Tibensky is a member of the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, volunteers who rescue birds injured by flying into Chicago's downtown buildings. He called bird rescuer Val Andria, a founder of the collision rescuers, who met him there.

"I could not catch it on my own," Tibensky said.

They had to wait for Andria to come after work, so by the time Tibensky pushed his kayak into the pond, it was already dark and freezing.

He took the kayak behind the 35-pound swan and gently herded it to where Andria waited on shore with a pole net. The bird did not protest until it realized a capture was at hand, but it was so ill, all it could do was flap weakly.

"He used a whistle because I could not see him," Andria said. "I waited and before too long, I heard a 'tweet tweet' and he came out of the darkness with this bird. I got my pole and caught it in my net. I took it up to my car and looked. The swan had a hole on each side of its body. It had been shot."

• • •

By the time Andria got the wounded swan to the Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn, no one thought it would survive.

"It was very near death," said Andrea Krueger, of St. Charles, vice president of the wild animal rescue and rehabilitation center in the county. "A bullet had gone from right to left in his lower chest. He could not walk or pick up his head. The wound was foul smelling and infected."

The vet came, put the bird on antibiotics and the staff made him comfortable on a heating pad.

Within three days, Krueger said, the swan began to eat some goose pellets and corn and nibble bird seed from a bell. Just recently, the swan began to walk around, gingerly spreading its wings and cooing at the center's staff.

The swan even walked down a short hall to the center's bathtub where its resident goose, Lucy, was having a swim. Geese are terrified of swans – and Lucy, Krueger reported, hustled out of the swan's way.

While it rehabs, the swan lives in a small room with blankets covering the floor. Last week he raised his head to fix a beady eye on a visitor and managed to get on his feet and take a few steps.

• • •

Once healed, the bird will be released to Knox Swan and Dog in North Barrington. Bob Knox's business is raising swans to rent out for chasing Canada geese. But he also takes in handicapped swans out of love for the species, he said.

The mute swan the rescuers found is a non-native species from England that several states have begun to eliminate to keep habitat and nesting areas for native species, such as trumpeter swans, Knox said.

The fact that it could not fly means it was likely pinioned, Knox said. Pinioning is a process breeders use to remove a bird's pinion joint so it will never fly.

"It'd be done during its first week of life with a pair of sharp scissors," Knox said. "We're supposed to do that with all mute swans. They are not native to North America and we don't want them loose in the wild."

Tibensky and Andria also rescued another, larger male mute swan from the same pond a couple weeks later. This one, with a broken leg, they took directly to Knox.

"I have a soft spot in my heart for a bird like this," Knox said. "I spent $658 for surgery to put a pin in his leg – no way can I watch an animal suffer. He is doing quite well, swimming and moving good, eating lettuce."

He suspects both swans were not fed well enough and walked off or they were dumped after they were injured.

It is also possible someone kept them as part of a private collection and did not take care of them properly.

Knox said he tags all his swans. Neither of the rescued swan was tagged.

"This is horrible," Knox said of the injuries to the swans. "I don't why people do that."

More info

Who: Fox Valley Wildlife Rescue

What: Winter Dinner Auction

Why: Fundraiser to support the work of aiding injured and orphaned wildlife

When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Riverside Receptions, 35 N. River Lane

Cost: $40 per person includes dinner, presentation by wildlife specialist, video of animals helped, silent and live auctions, raffle and 50-50 raffle

Goal: $15,000

Information: 630-365-3800

On the Net
• Fox Valley Wildlife Rescue – www.foxvalleywildlife.org
• Chicago Bird Collision Monitors – www.birdmonitors.net/