An almost fabulous story happened during the Christmas holidays in the Pskov arboretum, writes AiF Pskov.
A lone stork suddenly flew into the city in winter and settled near the Mirozhsky Monastery, which is practically the center of Pskov. For some reason, the bird did not fly with its brethren to Africa and stayed to winter in Russia. Pskov residents closely followed the fate of the stork.
Maria Simanova was the most active. For a month and a half she fed the stork, watched over him. Masha gave the name to the guest of the pond on Mirozhka in honor of the Kai, the hero of Andersen's fairy tale and the prisoner of the Snow Queen.
“I saw a post in the feed that there is a stork on the Dam. And I live next door, at the Lighthouse. I immediately called Marina Sidenko (winner of the award “My affectionate and necessary beast” in 2020 - ed.) - the director of the shelter “House of the White Stork”, - recalls Maria Simanova.
Maria admits that she was not interested in storks before. “But in these six weeks I have studied everything about them!” - says the girl.
Ornithologists advised not to catch the bird, as it may get scared and fly away in the worst conditions for it. Maria bought chicken heads and went to feed the stork.
“Since November 23rd I have been going to the pond every day. At first, even twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. It was necessary to talk to him, tame him so that he would not be afraid of people,” the girl explains.
Pskov residents actively helped the volunteer: some with money, others with food. Initially, the stork stood near the bridge, went ashore to Masha, who fed him, and, according to her, even responded to the nickname. But then he started staying away and spent most of his time in the water. It got colder, and park visitors tried to catch him, walking dogs nearby. Stork Kai endured the Pskov winter with fortitude. But when severe frosts began towards the end of the New Year holidays, the volunteers sounded the alarm. According to Maria, on January 5th and 6th everything was fine with the bird, but on January 7th the stork stopped eating. The guys began to fear for the pet's health.
"The distance for the capture was suitable, Kai knew us. We called the staff of the Ministry of Emergency Situations to insure. The "rescue operation" took place quite quickly," the girl recalls..
As a result, late on Christmas evening, Kai the stork, wrapped in a blanket, was taken to the "House of the White Stork" near Pskov. It turned out that the bird overwintered well, even gained weight. And already in the warm season Kai was released.