A swan mourns in the track bed – and is not alone in the animal kingdom / By Otto Schnekenburger.
Do animals also mourn? Many scientists would attest this ability to several species, some monkeys even the gift of feeling pity. There are also various anecdotes as evidence. For example, that of Hachiko, a dog from Tokyo who, after the death of its owner, trotted every day for ten years to the train that his master always took during his lifetime. Monkeys reacted to deaths with excessive lousing, lethargy or aggression. And elephants that repeatedly return to the bones of their conspecifics are compared to cemetery visitors.
All bipeds have been richer by one animal mourning anecdote since what recently happened on the railroad tracks between Kassel and Göttingen. A swan there mourned its conspecific who had got caught in the overhead line. He paralyzed rail traffic in northern Hesse for hours, and 23 trains were delayed by around 50 minutes each because of his wake.
In the end, the fire brigade had to move in and lift the swan, which could not be lured away, from the tracks with “special equipment”. He was then abandoned in the Fulda. Depending on the degree of love for animals or the economic ratio, one may perceive this as a disruption of a prayer or as a simple necessity. One way or another, it is to be hoped that the animal in the headwaters of the Weser has had other thoughts, perhaps has quickly found new companions.
Then it would be a bit ahead of its conspecific from Lake Aasee in Münster. The black-feathered Petra made headlines for years with her little reciprocated love for a white swan-shaped pedal boat. Novels were written about their fate, a council group wanted to include them in the city arms, even Thiel and Boerne from Münster’s “Tatort” built them into a series. Much fame for a swan. But it should have taken Petra many years until another flesh and blood conspecific became her constant companion.
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