The Day had already reported that up to 200 mute swans had been wintering every year in Chortoryia, Ivan Mykolaichuk’s home village in Chernivtsi region, starting shortly after the actor’s death. The villagers say: “It is Mykolaichuk’s soul returning home.” Biologists, however, have a different explanation for the phenomenon, pointing out that there is a cascade of six lakes in the village, one of which does not freeze even in severe frosts. To save the birds from starvation, humans feed them. The swans are fed by tourists who drive into Chortoryia on their way to Bukovel and Bukovyna ski resorts for this very purpose, as well as families with children, schools, enterprises and political parties. But the coming winter can become most difficult one for the birds. Although three tons of cereals have already been procured for them, the swans risk being left without place to live when frost hits, as the frost-free lake has been reduced to a few puddles of water. It is situated closest to the Cheremosh and usually fills with water from it and over a dozen hot springs. Due to the drought, the Bukovyna rivers have shoaled catastrophically. The Cheremosh’s water level has also dropped by a meter and a half, and is now below the lake’s water level, so the water is flowing from the lake into the Cheremosh. Without urgent measures, the swans will have no place to winter in, and there are already 117 of them in Chortoryia. “The regional water management department was tasked with restoring lakes after last year’s floods, when the Cheremosh had changed its watercourse, swept through the lakes and completely destroyed them. We will again ask it to join the lake rescue operation immediately,” says the first deputy head of the Chernivtsi regional environmental protection department Volodymyr Solodky. The swan lake can still be saved through clearing springs and constructing a dam to prevent water from leaking into the river. Otherwise, the villagers would have to sit in shifts with ice picks at remaining lakes of the cascade through the entire winter, as the mute swans are now forced to congregate on these water bodies.
