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Love Story of Greek Swans Ends Tragically in Death, Heartbreak

Swan
Credit: Nikos Panagiotopoulos/Facebook

The love story of two swans in Kastoria, Greece has ended, with the female swan’s death and a heartbreaking display, as the male swan was left reeling her loss on Tuesday.

For the past week, Kastoria residents have been enchanted with the swan couple. That enchantment ended on Tuesday, as the injured female succumbed to her injuries.

The male, who hadn’t left her side since she was admitted to a treatment center, doesn’t seem to want to believe his partner had died. He is refusing to leave the center, and he is still waiting for her there, although the doctors had transported him a distant point far away from the center after her death.

Staff at the animal hospital had driven the male, by car, to Lake Kastoria. But before they could even arrive back at the center, the male was once again waiting outside the building.

“We took the swan to a point in the lake, far from where they had made their nest with the female, about 20 kilometers,” said Nikos Panagiotopoulos, who works at the Environmental Protection Company and Wildlife Care Station of Kastoria, and who treated the injured bird.

“We left him there; at some point we lost sight of him, but when we returned in a few minutes to the treatment center, we found him there waiting for us.”

The love story of the Kastoria swans

The couple’s story started last week, when the female was injured by a group of stray dogs, which attacked her, but a male was seen trying to protect her, opened wings forming a circle around her.

Following the attack, the female was transported to a local treatment center.

The male refused to leave the female’s side for a moment, even in the doctor’s office. For days, he stayed next to her in the infirmary, carefully taking care of her wings as best he could — and letting out a shriek whenever someone got close to her, fearing the worst.

“Swans are together for a lifetime,” said Panagiotopoulos in an interview with SKAI.gr. “Even when one is widowed, it is difficult to mate again.”

Panagiotopoulos has been acquainted with the pair of swans since their move to Kastoria.

The male is from Crete and the female is from Evia. Both had previously lived in Athens for treatment for a time, and it was Panagiotopoulos who had tagged them and released them soon after; they eventually became a couple. Soon afterward, the other pairs of swans at Lake Kastoria alienated them, and they started to build their own nest, at a distance from the others.

On Feb. 13, the female was attacked by a group of dogs. Unfortunately, she was injured, but a group of people out for their morning walk saw what was happening and stopped the attack. The image described by the onlookers was “indescribable,” Panagiotopoulos said. “One swan is sitting helplessly down and the other is fighting, making circles with its wings open, chasing the dogs.”

Getting the pair to trust the onlookers was a challenge, however.

Panagiotopoulos approached the female calmly, carefully getting close to her, making sure she wasn’t startled. Eventually, when the male understood his good intentions, he was able to take her to the center that was located just a few meters away.

“When I got close, I turned my head and realized that her partner” had followed him and came with him to the station. He then opened the door and went into the treatment center, the wildlife rehabilitator said, adding that the male swan always stayed by her side, shrieking when he thought she needed more help, Panagiotopoulos said.

“After we finished and took her to the rehab center, he came with her and sat next to her.”

On Feb. 15, when Panagiotopoulos went to see the injured female, he saw her partner taking care of her feathers with great devotion. “I wish him well because he has big back injuries,” he added.

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