Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud of Wildlife Rescue presented their refined technique for propatagium repair in raptors at the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association (NWRA) Symposium — one of the world's most respected gatherings of wildlife rehabilitators and veterinarians.
When
February 2025
Where
Bellevue, WA (Seattle)
Presented by
Shehzad & Saud
The propatagium is the hardest part of the wing to repair — and also the most commonly injured by manja string.
Every year, tens of thousands of Delhi's raptors — Black Kites, Shikras, Barn Owls, eagles — fall from the sky after catching their wings in manja: the glass-coated kite-flying string that slices through skin, tendons, and bone with equal ease. The single most frequent injury we see is a laceration across the propatagium, the triangular membrane along the leading edge of the wing that holds the wing rigid during flight.
Cut the propatagium and you cut both skin and the underlying tendons — the tensor propatagialis longus and the extensor metacarpi radialis. Standard skin closure is not enough. Without a precise, layered repair of the tendons, the wing heals closed but the bird will never fly properly again — and in the wild, a bird that cannot fly is already dead.
Over 15 years of operating on manja-injured raptors, Wildlife Rescue refined a technique that restores both structure and function. In February 2025, at the NWRA Symposium near Seattle, Nadeem and Saud presented that technique to the international rehabilitation community — showing the staged repair, the day-32 fusion, and the release outcomes that follow.
Stills from the presentation slides — from initial closure to day-32 recovery.
The initial layer of the repair: dorsal and ventral skin sutures that close the laceration and begin the healing cascade. The propatagium — the triangular skin membrane along the leading edge of the wing — is thin, richly vascularised, and critical to flight.
Tensor propatagialis longus tendon (TPLT) and the extensor metacarpi radialis (EMR) — the two functional structures that give the propatagium its rigidity during flight — are individually sutured. Getting this layer right is what determines whether the bird flies again.
Post-operative follow-up at day 32. Tissue has integrated, the wound has fused cleanly, and the wing is ready to progress into flight-conditioning in a large aviary before eventual release.
At the podium, in the hallway, and on the screen — February 2025.
The National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association is a U.S.-based professional organisation serving wildlife rehabilitators, veterinarians, and researchers worldwide. Its annual symposium is the leading forum for peer-reviewed rehabilitation techniques and research.
nwrawildlife.orgThis international presentation was sponsored by Raptor Rescue and Research Inc.— Wildlife Rescue's U.S. fiscal sponsor, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in New York. R3 donors make trips like this one — and the knowledge transfer that happens at them — financially possible.
raptorrescueusa.orgEvery international presentation is funded by donors. Help us keep the knowledge moving.
