Dear readers and subscribers. today we are going to talk about our little swan rescue operation with some facts about them, or if you prefer you can just watch the video. The day before yesterday, I decided to walk to the store instead of taking the tram. Strasbourg, with its many hidden treasures, as always seemed particularly pretty.
On the way, I met a swan on the sidewalk in need of help to find its companion who was patiently waiting in the water.
As you can see in the video, the swan is walking along the river, unable to get through the fence. You can see from a distance that he makes itself look fat when he’s all alone, trying to scare the fence into leaving.
After seeing a few people stop for a few minutes and then leave, I decided to try to help and headed towards the swan. I was afraid the swan had been hit by a car, but fortunately, it was unharmed and just needed some help to get back into the water. How it got there is a total mystery to me; it’s not usual to see them walking on sidewalks.
It seemed to be an adult male swan, I think, because the one in the water looked smaller, but I could be wrong. Seeing it up close, I quickly realized it was too heavy for me to carry, but it wasn’t aggressive at all towards people.
An adult swan weighs more than 33 lb and its wingspan can exceed 10 feet. So, I asked a student for help to guide it to the other side of the bridge where it could descend to the river. By constantly talking to it, we encouraged it to move at its own pace in the right direction.
Swans feed in the water and on land and, can live up to 24 years. They are almost entirely herbivorous, although they can eat small amounts of aquatic animals.
A familiar behavior of swans is that they mate for life and typically bond before even reaching sexual maturity. We could clearly see his partner swimming as close as possible to where he was walking. Due to their apparently monogamous, enduring relationships, swans are often a symbol of love or fidelity.
But did you know that swan meat was considered a delicacy in England during the reign of Elizabeth I and that there is a famous ballet called “Swan Lake”? It was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and is one of the most canonical of the classical ballets.
Generally, swan nests are located on the ground near water and measure about a meter in diameter. Unlike many other ducks and geese, the male participates in nest construction and also takes turns incubating the eggs. They are very protective of their nests and will viciously attack anything they perceive as a threat to their chicks, including humans. By pure luck, I found one in the center of Strasbourg (Not during our rescue).
During our slow walk, the swan huffed in order to return to where it came from, but as we refused to give way, it continued to walk where we wanted.
I was surprised because its feet made quite a bit of noise on the sidewalk.
On the way, we asked two workers to help us, so now there were four of us walking with the swan, which would make it easier for it to cross the bridge. We continued to move slowly so as not to stress this poor swan more than it already was.
At the end of the sidewalk, we see our swan panicking a bit and trying to pass through the fence more often. Then it stops and refuses to move forward.
Finally, one of the workers manages to get it to move forward, but instead of crossing the bridge, it went to the left and we failed to convince it to head in the right direction again.
After much effort of persuasion, as it is a large bird and although it is not aggressive, it could decide to defend itself and we did not want to harm it. One of the workers grabbed it and carried it to the other side.
There, the swan quickly descended and then hurried to swim far away from us and finally found its mate. Who can blame it, we must have really frightened this magnificent bird by forcing it to go where it did not want to go, not understanding that we simply wanted to help it.
It has been a truly remarkable experience and I am grateful to have received help from strangers and to have been able to reunite the swan with its mate. Encounters like this serve as a powerful reminder of the beauty of nature and the importance of lending a helping hand to our animal friends.
I hope the swans will continue to thrive and enjoy their time on the river, without any obstacles in their way, and I will continue to appreciate seeing them swim on the Ill.
And I hope you enjoyed this article.
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