Lovesick Australian swan pining for lost lover

A lovesick Australian swan, devastated by the disappearance of her mate from a German zoo, is to be reunited with her favourite plastic boat to help overcome her heartbreak.

The rare Australian black swan Petra, who made headlines when she fell in love with a swan-shaped pedal boat, had been building a nest at Muenster zoo with a white swan called Bruce after she ditched her pedalo lover.

But zoo officials say Bruce has now left Petra, and she is pining for her old flame – so they are planning to reunite her with the pedal boat in a bid to make her happy again.

A thriving tourism industry had built up at the Aasee Lake in northern Germany where local shops sold souvenirs of Petra and her pedal boat lover – but the two-year affair seemed to have come to an end as Petra started building a nest with a German white swan.

Petra met and fell in love with the real swan at the German zoo where she was being housed for the winter with her plastic pedal boat lover.

Staff at the zoo said the real swan, nicknamed Bruce, was besotted with Petra and they were inseparable.

But they say Bruce began to cool towards her and has no interest in her now.

Petra made international headlines when she was first seen circling her plastic lover on the lake two years ago, staring endlessly at it and making crooning noises.

At first lake staff thought she was sick and called in vets.

Naturalists however soon realised what had happened – Petra's behaviour meant there could be no doubt that she had fallen for the boat – and as word spread of the bizarre love affair tourist flocked to see the odd couple.

When Petra refused to fly to warmer climes the local Allwetter Zoo agreed that both the bird and the boat could spend the winter on their pond near the elephant enclosure.

- AAP