鸛鳥的愛情：飛躍14000公里來看你

The world’s most faithful male is a stork. Every year, for the past 16 years, he has flown 14,000 km from his winter home in South Africa to a small village in Croatia, Europe, to be with his handicapped mate, who cannot fly due to an old gunshot wound.

這只鸛鳥是全世界最忠誠的雄性。在過去的16年里，他每年都會跨越14000公里從非洲飛到歐洲克羅地亞的一個小村莊里，與他那因槍傷無法飛行的伴侶見面。

The amazing love story between Klepetan and Malena has made the two storks celebrities in Croatia. Every March, the male stork flies back to the village of Brodski Varos, where Malena is waiting for him. They mate and have new babies each year, which Klepetan then teaches how to fly, before migrating with them to South Africa. The injured female stays behind, as she cannot fly, but she’s always well taken care of during the cold winter.

Klepetan與Malena之間奇妙的愛情故事，讓它們成為了克羅地亞的名人。每年三月，雄性鸛鳥就會飛回Brodski Varos村，Malena一直在這里等他。它們每年都會交配并生下小寶寶，之后Klepetan會教它們飛翔，之后和它們一起遷徙到南非。而受傷的雌鳥則待在克羅地亞，雖然她不能飛，但她總是能在冬天得到很好的照顧。

71-year-old Stjepan Vokic, a local school caretaker, adopted Malena in 1993, after finding her near a pond. She had been injured by hunters, and would have surely ended up as a meal for foxes or other predators, but he took her home and nursed her back to health. She wouldn’t be able to migrate for the winter ever again, but Vokic made sure her winter home was as comfortable as possible.

71歲的Stjepan Vokic是當?shù)啬硨W校的看門人，他于1993年在池塘邊發(fā)現(xiàn)了Malena，之后便收養(yǎng)了她。她被獵人打傷了，原本她會成為狐貍或者其它捕食者的美味大餐，但他將她帶回了家并加以照顧。她冬天再也不能遷徙了，但Vokic會確保她冬天盡可能舒適。

Called “improvised Africa”, by Vokic, the storage building Malena spends her winters in features a nest, heating and aquarium, and her human dad makes sure to bathe her regularly and rub cream on her feet to stop them drying out. So when Klepetan arrives in the first days of Spring, she’s ready to add more baby storks to the 62 they already have together.

Vokic臨時給Malena搭建了一個“非洲”，她的巢穴溫暖宜人，并且她的人類父親會經(jīng)常給她洗澡，并給她的腳上涂保濕霜，防止它們干燥。當Klepetan在春天回來的時候，她已經(jīng)準備好養(yǎng)育更多的孩子。目前他們已經(jīng)養(yǎng)育了62個孩子。

“I also take her fishing since I can’t take her to Africa. We even watch TV together,” Vokic told AFP. “If I had left her in the pond foxes would have eaten her. But I changed her fate, so now I’m responsible for her life.”

Vokic在接受采訪時表示：“我沒有辦法帶她去非洲，但是我會帶她去釣魚。我們甚至會一起看電視。如果我當時讓她留在池塘里，那么狐貍會吃掉她。但我改變了她的命運，所以我要對她的生命負責。”

Klepetan wears a tracking ring on one of his legs, and his final migratory destination has been traced to a wetland near Cape Town, in South Africa, some 14,500 km from Brodski Varos. It takes him little over a month to fly back to his beloved Malena every Spring.

Klepetan的一只腳上戴著追蹤環(huán)，他的上一次遷徙定位在南非海角鎮(zhèn)附近的一個濕地，它距離Brodski Varos14500公里。他需要飛一個多月才能回到愛人的身邊。

Stjepan Vokic, who lives by himself, after losing his wife a few years ago, says that every time Klepetan arrives, he feels like one of his sons has returned home.

Stjepan Vokic獨自居住，他在幾年前失去了他的妻子。他說每次Klepetan來的時候，他都感覺好像是他的某個兒子回家了一樣。