When Recep Mirzan spotted a wounded swan in a filed in Turkey's Edirne province, in 1984, he had no idea that he was about to meet his best friend. He was in a car with a group of friends, when he spotted a swan that appeared to have a broken wing in an empty field. Mirzan quickly realized that leaving the bird there was the same as signing its death sentence, as predators would have most likely eaten it, so he stopped the car and took the bird with him.

He kept in the car until evening, when he took it home and started nursing it back to health. "Since I love animals, I said to myself that I should take her home instead of leaving her as prey to foxes," Mirzan told The Associated Press. "We got used to each other. We never separated."

Even after the female swan's broken wing healed, it didn't try to fly away. Instead, it befriended the other animals on Recep's farm in the Karaagac region, on the border with Greece, and decided to stick around. Recep named her Garip, which translates as 'bizarre', and she has been with him for the last 37 years.

"She comes when I call. Since 1984, she has never left me, not even during the river floods," the retired postman told Anadolu News Agency. "She used to be more vigorous, but she has grown old now. If she dies, I will make him a nice grave here, but I hope we live more together." Garip has her own coop on Mirzan's farm, but she mostly spends nights in it. During the day, she is busy following her human friend around, either during his daily chores, or on his evening walks.

After his wife died a few years ago, Recep Mirzan started spending more time with his animals, and since he has no human children, he regards Garip as his child. Whooper swans can live for decades in protected environments, but Garip has long surpassed the average lifespan for his species. watch video: