Petra’s Love Story

March 19, 2008 at 11:01 pm | Posted in Bizarre News | 2 Comments

Once upon a time not so long ago in Münster, Petra fell in love. In the Spring of 2006, Petra the black swan was flying across Germany when she was struck by love at first sight. Serenely floating on the lake below was a beautiful white swan.

Unfortunately. . .

. . . swans mate for life and Petra had fallen in love with a swan-shaped paddleboat. Nonetheless, the relationship blossomed and Petra happily followed her newfound love around the lake through the summer.

At the end of the summer, it was time for Petra’s new love to be put in dry dock for the winter. Although Petra would likely not be harmed by the lake freezing over, the paddleboat undoubtedly wouldn’t survive. When the paddelboat company tried to take her true love out of the lake for the winter, Petra “became distraught”.

The kind citizens of Münster came up with a plan to keep Petra and her true love together. They were both moved to an indoor pond at the city zoo for the winter and returned to their lake home when Spring returned. Petra and her plastic mate spent a very happy winter together at the zoo. Plans were in place for Petra and her plastic boyfriend to spend this winter at the zoo, at least until a luxury lakeside home was completed (scheduled completion in February of 2008).

Remember how I said swans mate for life? Well, apparently there can be a “swan divorce” in extreme circumstances. The extreme circumstance most likely to result in divorce is failed nesting. As you might expect, Petra and her plastic lover did not manage to successfully nest, despite her extreme devotion. Shortly after moving into their winter quarters last December a new white swan entered Petra’s life. This one isn’t made of plastic.

So far so good, right? Petra attaches herself to the new swan and doesn’t even seem to notice when her plastic love is taken away. The public votes and her newfound love is named Paul. Petra and Paul eat out of the same food dish, they groom each other, and spend a lot of time swimming with each other. It sounds like a fairytale ending to this tale of swan love.

 

 

Only time will tell if Petra and her new feathered love are able to make a go of it. You would think this relationship has a better chance of surviving given that neither of them is made of plastic. However, Petra and Paul are different species . . . and there are questions about whether Paul is male or female. Only time will tell if these two are able to mate for life.