It all started with a sad black swan.
The swan, who had recently lost his mate, would not move away from a vending machine at Tri-Township Park in Troy, Ill. The swan stared at his reflection below the Dr Pepper dispensers, thinking it showed his mate, park officials said.
The swan needed a new partner, but the parks department would not be able to budget for new swans until April, said Sandy Pensoneau, the office manager at the Tri-Township Park District. So the agency decided to raise money to get a new match for the black swan, and for a white swan who had also just lost his mate.
Park regulars had been clamoring for a response, Ms. Pensoneau said. “The people that walk the park every day, they’re like, ‘Hey, you guys need to do something. This is sad,’” she said.
On Thursday, the department posted a flyer on social media that asked the public to donate money to help the swans “find companionship again.”
“We want to help them feel safe, calm, and at home again by purchasing two new companion swans — and we need our community’s help to make that happen,” the flyer said.
The parks department has since raised $4,000, Ms. Pensoneau said in an interview on Tuesday morning. The bulk of the money was donated in the first 36 hours after the fund-raiser opened.
A new female black swan was purchased from a local family farm for $1,000 and is getting used to its new home at the park. Ms. Pensoneau said the two black swans are following each other everywhere. “I think they think they like each other,” she said.
Black swans are monogamous, often staying with the same mate for life, according to Animal Diversity Web, a database maintained by the University of Michigan. They have been known to live for 40 years in the wild.
The white swan is a mute swan, which do not pair for life, but are monogamous for at least a season, according to Animal Diversity Web. The longest they are known to live in the wild is 19 years, and in captivity, 30 to 40 years.
The two male swans who lost their mates have lived at the park in Troy, about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis, for about four or five years, Ms. Pensoneau said. The Tri-Township Park has more than a dozen soccer fields and baseball fields, as well as a lake where the swans and some ducks and geese live.
The two female swans passed away about three or four weeks ago, Ms. Pensoneau said. The white female swan had gotten caught in the lake’s ice over a weekend, and an unknown animal appeared to have attacked the black female swan.
Before the black swan was matched with a new companion, KMOV, a local news station, reported that park regulars were giving it space. “He’s grumpy,” said Dustin Hayden, a park visitor.
The parks department had also put a sign on the vending machine: “Swan thinks he sees his mate in reflection. He will be ok!!”
The park’s white swan had a different response to its new solitude.
“It flies off for a little bit and then comes back, flies off for a bit. I think it’s just looking for a mate,” Ms. Pensoneau said. “That’s why he keeps leaving for like a week at a time.”
Hopefully, the white swan will be able to stop making these trips soon. The parks department has raised enough money to buy a new white female swan, which costs about $2,000. Ms. Pensoneau expects the department will purchase it this week. Once all four swans are living in the park, there will be a public vote to name them.
Ms. Pensoneau thought only a few people might donate to the fund-raiser. “We are just absolutely amazed and thankful that the community has come together and wanted to help this cause,” she said.
Amanda Holpuch covers breaking news and other topics.
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