Open letter to the President of Lebanon - Michel Aoun
More on: www.featherismightierthanthesword.com
Dear President Aoun,
My name is Stjepan Vokić. People would describe me in a multitude of different ways, but all of them would agree with one thing - that I am a man who loves animals more than I love myself. And they would be right.
Twenty-five years ago, in my little village in my little homeland Croatia, I found a small stork with a wound in her wing - she had been shot by hunters. It was immediately evident that she would not be able to fly ever again which for a migratory bird means death.
I took her home with the hope of helping her in some way. I built a nest on the roof and a winter habitation in the garage so that she could survive the cold winter days. I named her Malena (The Little One).
Since Malena cannot fly, I have been her wings... I have caught fish for her, I have collected branches for her nest and helped her survive long winters. Over the years of friendship with Malena, I have learned numerous facts about storks and realized how magnificent those creatures are. Fifteen years ago, in the springtime, while returning from Africa, a male stork Klepetan landed in her nest. Ever since that day, he and Malena have been inseparable and up to this day, 59 young storks have set off into the world from their nest.
With the approach of autumn, Klepetan travels to south Africa to winter there, but at the end of March he returns back to his Malena in Croatia. This has been a regular occurrence for fifteen years already.
His 14000 kilometre journey teems with danger and these ten days while we wait for him impatiently are the most tense moments of my life.
However, when Klepetan appears in our back yard and flies to the bucket filled with fish I prepared for him, there is no money or wealth that could replace happiness and joy that fill my heart. I have three sons, and ever since Klepetan landed in Malena’s nest I accepted him as my fourth son.
The thought that one spring he may not return scares me more than anything. Although during his journey, storms, hunger and thirst threaten him, the most dangerous part of the flight is the 200 kilometre long route over your Lebanon. Every year around two million migratory birds get killed in this air route... some for fun, some for food, some for sale. This year Klepetan’s friend from the flock, Tesla, had an ill-fortune and got hurt. The stork Tesla was one of the two Croatian storks tracked by a GPS device for scientific research within the project “SOS Stork Croatia” which aims to determine the exact movement routes of the migratory birds of our area.
Just like the previous fifteen autumns, Klepetan will commence his journey to Africa and will once more fly over Lebanon. Unfortunately, I cannot go with him to protect him, but I am sending you this letter written with his feather, in order to implore you, to use the power your esteemed position brings and do everything you can in order to ensure that migratory bird protection laws remain in effect and that they are applied to their fullest extent. I am also sending you Klepetan’s feather because I believe that the feather is mightier than the sword.
I hope that you will use this particular feather, even before Klepetan flies to the south, to sign the law which will make a difference and save these wonderful creatures from merciless killing.
In my country, there is a belief that storks bring children and that they bring new life. These two storks are my whole life. You do not have to believe in stories for little children, but you can believe in the fact that in Croatia every spring, via live stream camera, over a million people await Klepetan’s return and that the moment of his return brings happiness and joy reminding many of what love means and what it means to love.
The story of my Klepetan is a proof to everyone that love simply knows no boundaries. I do not believe in fairy tales, but I do believe in goodness and I do believe that nature remembers and gives back everything, and more than anything, I believe in your humaneness and your benevolence and I thank you for your attention to this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Malena, Klepetan and Stjepan Vokić
Пікірлер: 49
That's a true human
Čudovito, super, beautiful, inspiring. We should all make any kind of effort for protecting the animals and our planet.
Odgledao sam više puta i više puta plakao. Upravo sam vidio vijest da je gospodin Aoun pokrenuo inicijativu strože zaštite ptica zahvaljujući Vama. Kao osoba koja formalno radi u zaštiti prirode i kojoj je zaštita prirode cijeli život mogu Vam samo čestitati i zahvaliti! Neopisivo sam ponosan što ste slika Hrvatske i slika očuvanja prirode. Ovime ste pokazali da je briga za prirodu svačija stvar, a ne samo nas šaćice biologa i ekologa. Gospodine Vokić hvala Vam! :)
@teaivazidic4041
5 жыл бұрын
Ja isto placem..na ovakve videe,strasno sto monstrumi tamo cine zivotinjama...😣😣😣Sve su opcenito unistili stanista su zivotinjama unistili,oduzeli hranu,...Klima se promjenula vise nisu ni zime ostre ko prije...Strasno ljudi moji sta rade nesretnoj zemlji😣😣😣Muka mi je vise od ljudi...😢😢😭Jadne zivotinje..
Zelo lep prispevek vse čestitke. Vi ste človek z velikim srcem👍🙂
Great initiative! Thumbs up
We beg you to save the wonderful creatures from killing. Many thanks Mojca, Feliks Tavčar, Piran, Slovenia
ponos Hrvatske ! svaka Vam čast.
Zgodba, ki ti da misliti! Spoštovanje gospod, za vaša prizadevanja!
That is beautiful. Like so many others I find the love story of Klepetan and Malena (and Stephan) truly inspiring. How can I sign on to his letter?
prelepa zgodba, zgodba od katere dobiš solzne oči...
From 🇨🇿 with love. Good luck! 🍀❤️
I cried when I first watched it.
Thank and it worked. ❤
❤❤❤
Уважаемый Степан, я всей душой присоединяюсь к вашим словам не только к президенту Ливана, но и ко всем людям ! У каждой маленькой жизни есть право ЖИТЬ, а не быть убитой! За свою долгую жизнь я ни разу не прошла мимо несчастного живого существа, попавшего в беду, и моё сердце всегда плачет от жалости и горя ((( Желаю Вам крепкого здоровья , счастья и любовь из Эстонии.
Svaka čast gospodine:))
💓💓💓💓💓
😭I am sorry for your loss.My country is corrupted and nobody listens to people who love nature and animals like me.I love Croatia,my love is Croatian.❤️❤️❤️🇭🇷❤️❤️❤️💐💐💐💐
Lebanon needs to sort put many other things first in order to increase the awareness of people. As long as people (I've seen that when i was there) are going to hunt just for fun after a night out, because they cannot sleep, situation will not change. Police is all around Beirut, but when they just stop you, you tell them 'Take care' and they let you go..People also hurt each other when they go hunting, and, again, they still do it... It's a men's thing in Lebanon...
Predobar covek.
我为它祈祷，每年的春天可以安全回来，鹤的寿命很长，有六十年，希望它们都能活到那么久。
😢😭❤️
podpisujem peticiju,,,,
Hi!, klepetan returned this year? Where can I watch more videos?
and what the President’s response?
@raventhegoat8429
3 жыл бұрын
the last time we saw him, as lebanese people was in 2016 sleeping in his office\
原来Malena在去年7月7日去世了😭😭😭😭😭，好伤心💔，三年了，再回头来找她的故事，原来她已经离去了。
Kar v srce segajoče.
This is so hesrt breaking they shootmmigrating birds just for fun. Very similar stories are experienced on many cases. The story of the stork ‘Yaren’ had a documentary and this one is at this link kzread.info/dash/bejne/dmeq1LmrlZrHnZM.html . This movie documenting the relation with the fisherman uncle Adem which is very similar to yours was rewarded in international festivals. A whole village is every year waiting the stork Yaren. Watchin the massacre done over Lebanese land was shocking. I can understand your stress and worries. Hope humans do understand that these innocent creatures are entrusted to their conscience.
Hi I’m emailing on behalf of Express Newspapers (Daily Express, Daily Star, OK! and more) regarding your video kzread.info/dash/bejne/dmeq1LmrlZrHnZM.html We’d love to use your video as part of a story across our sites, and so wanted to get in touch with you, the copyright owner, to grant us perpetual worldwide license to use your video and screengrabs across our sites and apps. You’ll of course retain all copyright to your video, and we’ll include any credits and hyperlinks that you specify. We’d love to work with you and look forward to hearing back from you as soon as possible - if you have any questions please contact rebecca.hutson@express.co.uk Kind regards, Lucy
@featherismightierthanthesw2783
7 жыл бұрын
We really appriciate your interest for our story. Of course, if you are using it for non-commercial purposes (just for editorial/news ), you have our permission. Just please send us link on mail: featherismightierthanthesword@gmail.com featherismightierthanthesword.com/ Thank you.
He destroyed Lebanon, does he care of something ? NO Sir