It’s getting cold and the flocks of storks, one by one fly to the south. However, it happens sometimes that some kids, which are not strong enough to fly, are left in their nests. This happened with Busia: a small stork that failed to keep up with its relatives, starved and was doomed to death. But it dared to come to people.
Svitlana Vasylivna, the resident of Akhtyrka, gathered raspberry on her plot in Kharkiv oblast, when suddenly saw a weak white bird walking towards her. “It was so weak and could hardly move. It approached and put the head on my knees,” a woman remembers with the smile. The kind foster parents fed the rescued kid with eggs and goat’s milk during the first days. A little stork was so weak that it was not able to eat without help. However, thanks to the care, several days later Busia became stronger. People started to bring fish and frogs for the unusual feathered pet, but later it became strong enough to hunter, coming home only to spend night.
“At first, Busia lived with our goat, but later it moved to our henhouse,” a foster mother of a little stork tells with laughter. “It is so tame, like a dog. If it is thirsty, it clicks with its beak; if it is hungry (in case of failed hunt), it tugs at my skirt.”
Despite the fact that Busia has become very attached to people, Svitlana Vasylivna understood that the stork needs to return to its congeners in the native habitat. But the storks have already flown to the south, and it appeared to be a very difficult task to find a winter home for a lonely bird. Luckily, the children and grandchildren told her about the All-Ukrainian Service for Wild, Exotic and Domestic Animals Rescue “Feldman Ecopark Good Home.” Its specialists work round the clock to help thousands of animals in need of assistance. After they were told about the unusual story of Busia, they were glad to shelter it at Three Lakes to live with the other storks.
The head of the birds’ sector in the Feldman Ecopark Volodymyr Perekhodovych welcomed an excited woman with a big white bird in her hands. After asking about the behaviour of the stork and the care it received, the head invited her to look at the picturesque lake, where Busia met her future neighbours – swans, pelicans and storks. A new one was carefully examined by veterinarians, and appeared to be completely healthy. Now, Busia lives at Swan Lake with its congeners, while its kind rescuer, Svitlana Vasylivna, promised to visit her feathered friend as often as possible.
