An encounter with an injured bird last weekend gave me a glimpseinto the ultimate risk management—the fight for survival.

On Saturday morning, when checking out our six inches ofnew-fallen snow through the window, I spotted a large American Crownibbling at a suet cake at the bird feeding station. Closerinspection showed that something was wrong. The crow's right wingwas not only badly damaged, but hanging so low it made movementthrough the branches of the tree difficult. The bird appearedhealthy otherwise, retreating to a nearby bush for protection andcover after eating.

I called a 24-hour emergency vet in the area after consultingwith the Wildlife Hotline. Since the bird specialist wouldn't be inuntil Sunday and our driveway wasn't yet plowed I decided tocapture the bird the next day and take it to the veterinarian. Iknew the bird was safe for the time being, with food and cover. Ouryard, which we have made into a bird sanctuary, is the safest placeit could have ended up in.

Sunday we managed to catch the crow. I cornered it on theground, wrapped it in a towel and picked it up. As I held it, Ifound it to be surprisingly calm. The hotline had said that crowsin such circumstances will rarely bite and knowing they need help,will usually surrender.

I left the bird at the vet, expecting it to lose the wing. Sinceit appeared to be otherwise healthy, I hoped to find it a home at anearby wildlife park.

A call from the vet that evening told me otherwise. Because ofthe extent of injury to the wing, she wasn't sure how far infectionmight have spread through the bird's body. Key, she said, is thatit wasnt clear to what extent the animal was suffering.

Then she said this: it's nearly impossible to determine theextent of pain a bird feels. The reason is that in the wild anysign of weakness shown by an animal makes it a target forpredators—meaning sure death.

Even with a broken, useless wing and a painful, life-threateninginjury, this crow's instinct to survive took over. Its inbornskills helped it to find a safe spot with food and shelter and toappear healthy and strong, while fighting for its life.

This incident showed me in graphic terms, the roots of riskmanagement–to be safe. And that risk management is often abalance between being assertive and strong, and knowing when toaccept help when it's needed.

Survival—the ultimate risk management.