When love is true there is nothing that can stop it. This goes for humans and animals alike.
The long-distance love between two storks is reminding the internet of the power and strength of true love.
A man named Stjepan Vokić came across an injured female stork near his pond in Brodski Varõs, Croatia one day. The bird’s wing was badly hurt and it appeared that she had been shot by hunters.
“It was immediately evident that she would not be able to fly ever again which for a migratory bird means death,” Vokić wrote in a YouTube video caption.
Vokić took the bird home with him in order to try and nurse her back to health.
“I built a nest on the roof and a winter habitation in the garage so that she could survive the cold winter days. I named her Malena (The Little One),”Vokić said. “Since Malena cannot fly, I have been her wings… I have caught fish for her, I have collected branches for her nest and helped her survive long winters.”
Vokić went above and beyond to make sure that Malena would survive.
“People would describe me in a multitude of different ways, but all of them would agree with one thing – that I am a man who loves animals more than I love myself. And they would be right,” he explains.
During his time with Malena, Vokić learned all kinds of things about storks, including the fact that they fall in love.
“Fifteen years ago, in the springtime, while returning from Africa, a male stork Klepetan landed in her nest,”Vokić explains. “Ever since that day, he and Malena have been inseparable and up to this day, 59 young storks have set off into the world from their nest.”
Klepetan will travel south when autumn approaches so that he ends up in Africa during the winter.
At the end of March, he will return back to his beloved Malena in Croatia. Klepetan has been making this 14000 kilometer trip for 15 years and each year Vokić and Malena nervously await his return.
“However, when Klepetan appears in our back yard and flies to the bucket filled with fish I prepared for him, there is no money or wealth that could replace happiness and joy that fill my heart,” Vokić explains.
Vokić says that Klepetan is like a son to him.
“The thought that one spring he may not return scares me more than anything. Although during his journey, storms, hunger and thirst threaten him, the most dangerous part of the flight is the 200 kilometre long route over your Lebanon,” he says.
Vokić reports that about two million birds end up dying on their migratory route each year, whether it be for sport, food, or for sale. This is why Vokić made a video asking Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, to help protect migratory birds.
He even sent the president one of Klepetan’s feathers.
“I hope that you will use this particular feather, even before Klepetan flies to the south, to sign the law which will make a difference and save these wonderful creatures from merciless killing,” Vokić pleaded.
Vokić has also set up a live stream camera where more than a million people watch Klepetan’s return.
“…that the moment of his return brings happiness and joy reminding many of what love means and what it means to love. The story of my Klepetan is a proof to everyone that love simply knows no boundaries,” Vokić said.
You can watch Vokić video sent to Aoun below.
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