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Swan-Boat Romance Takes Wing (Again)

After actual feathered male forsakes her, Petra flocks back to plastic paramour

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 28, 2008 2:57 PM CDT
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(Newser) – After her real-life avian lover flew the coop, a German black swan has returned to her ex—a swan-shaped paddleboat, the AP reports. Petra was joined at the wing with the craft in 2006—but that relationship seemed to have sung its swan song when both were taken to a zoo for the winter—where she dumped it for a real male.

Gander Paul left last weekend, a heartbreak that prompted zoo authorities to free her, alongside the paddleboat, in a nearby lake; it's too early to tell whether she’ll stand by her plastic friend this time, said the zoo’s director. Meanwhile, Petra has become a national celebrity, Der Spiegel reports.  “What the swan wants, she gets,” the boat’s owner once said.

Petra, a black swan, swims next to a boat shaped like an outsized white swan after she was taken back to the Aasee in Muenster, Germany, Friday, March 28, 2008.
Petra, a black swan, swims next to a boat shaped like an outsized white swan after she was taken back to the Aasee in Muenster, Germany, Friday, March 28, 2008.   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Black swan (Cygnus atratus) named 'Petra' sitting in a boat that carries zoo director Joerg Adler, right, and boat owner Peter Overschmidt followed by the white swan shaped pedal boat on the Aasee in Muenster, western Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007.
Black swan (Cygnus atratus) named 'Petra' sitting in a boat that carries zoo director Joerg Adler, right, and boat owner Peter Overschmidt followed by the white swan shaped pedal boat on the Aasee in...   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Petra, a black swan, swims next to a boat shaped like an outsized white swan after she was taken back to the Aasee in Muenster, Germany, Friday, March 28, 2008.
Petra, a black swan, swims next to a boat shaped like an outsized white swan after she was taken back to the Aasee in Muenster, Germany, Friday, March 28, 2008.   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Petra, a black swan, swims next to a boat shaped like an outsized white swan after she was taken back to the Aasee in Muenster, Germany, Friday, March 28, 2008.
Petra, a black swan, swims next to a boat shaped like an outsized white swan after she was taken back to the Aasee in Muenster, Germany, Friday, March 28, 2008.   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
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