Staff at a New Zealand aviary are about to commemorate a gay relationship between a goose and a swan. The interspecies love fest spanned decades, capturing the hearts of staff who say it deserves to be celebrated in bronze.

Thomas the goose and Henry the swan were flapping the tails off each other at the Waikanae Bird Center on the Kapiti Coast north of Wellington for 18 years before the arrival of female swan Henrietta.

The duo then became a trio when Henry and Henrietta paired off to spawn 68 cygnets over two years, a brood that jilted-but-magnanimous Thomas helped raise. Henry’s death in 2009 was said to have simplified things between the three.

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Thomas had babies of his own, too, only to have them stolen by another goose named George. The presumably-heartbroken creature – but who really knows, it’s a bird after all – died last year. Now, staff at the facility are looking to raise $80,000 to fund a life-size sculpture of the the birds to commemorate the rare interspecies love affair.

Waikanae Bird Tour operator Mik Peryer believes Thomas could become a political ambassador for diversity and hopes the council will come through with the frankly absurd amount of money for something so tedious.

“That would involve responsibility for the artistic nature of the work and its placement going to the council's Art Panel. If they are happy with that, that'’ fine. Otherwise they can look to crowdfunding the project. I think Thomas has the pull to raise that kind of money,” Preyer told New Zealand website Stuff.

“No matter the process, Thomas is a great and quirky Kāpiti story and we should be celebrating our stories through our art.”

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