When swans fall for a mate, it is for life. So imagine the predicament of a swan who fell in love with a peddle boat.
That is what happened to a rare Black Austrian swan in Germany named Petra when she caught sight of a peddle boat designed to look like a swan. That first look was all it took last year. Never mind her lover towered over her, never mind it was white, never mind it was made of plastic or that humans sat inside of it riding along the lake.
So lovestruck was Petra that she refused to abandon her mate and fly south for the winter. That placed her at risk of dying during the cold winter.
Officials at a local zoo took pity on her and gave both Petra and her "boyfriend" quarters to spend the winter.
Now that spring has sprung, Petra and her "boyfriend" have been sprung from the zoo. Once again they swim the lake together, Petra circling her lover, making crooning sounds and endlessly staring at "him." She is a swan incurably in love.
Petra and her lover have become a tourist attraction on the lake. But her lover still gets rented out to families who wish to picnic on the lake.
Ah, love. It comes in all varieties, shapes and sizes.
