I really just have to summarize Thomas's entire life:

He was in a committed relationship with a male swan named Henry for 18-24 years before a female swan named Henrietta showed up and mated with Henry.

Thomas was initially jealous of the pair and attacked them, breaking 2 of the 5 eggs Henrietta had laid. However, once the remaining eggs hatched, Thomas warmed up to them and helped raise them.

Henry couldn't fly because of an injured wing, so Thomas taught the cygnets how to fly.

When they needed to reduce the goose population in the pond where Thomas and the swans lived, they dyed Thomas's feathers red so he wouldn't be separated from Henry.

Henry, Henrietta, and Thomas remained in their happy throuple for years and raised 68 cygnets before Henry died in 2009. After Henry's death, Henrietta found another swan and flew away, leaving Thomas alone.

Thomas finally met and mated with a female goose in 2011 and had his own babies. However, another goose named George stole them and raised them himself.

As Thomas grew elderly and blind, he was relocated to a wildlife center where he raised orphaned cygnets.

His caretaker at the center described him as "pretty high maintenance."

Thomas died in 2018 at the age of around 40. He had a funeral that included a small coffin and a procession that was led by a bagpiper. He was buried under the stone where Henry was buried, the two finally reunited in death.

Usually, you would never house these two species together, but when in an emergency situation with literally nowhere else to put them, the rescue had to do it. Luckily for them, the 3 week old kitten and 3 day old fawn quickly bonded in their dire circumstance and several very cute photos were taken before the two were separated to be raised separately for release once the situation had cleared up and there was space for the fawn.

Learning the whole story also means that you get to find out that there are more photos!!

#yall in the 18th century are spoiled as fuck 15th century youtube SUCKS#yeah dedication to the patron of the work and the local nobility is one thing but imagine that PLUS a ten miniute prayer for the virgin#mother's intercession AND the fucking guild ads that play for half the fucking runtime#and dont even get me started on these “Raid” and “Clash of Clans” ads like I KNOW THE CLANS ARE RAIDING AND CLASHING dont remind me#like fucking hell im just switching back to the book of hours at this point