Christian the lion

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Christian was a lion originally purchased by Australians John Rendall and Anthony 'Ace' Bourke from Harrods department store of London in 1969 and ultimately reintroduced to the wild by conservationist George Adamson. One year after George Adamson released Christian to the wild, his former owners decided to go looking for him in Africa to see whether Christian would remember them. Surprisingly, he did and with him were other lions in the pride which were also friendly.[1]

Contents

[edit] Relocation

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External images
Christian with London owners John Rendall and Anthony Bourke
Christian with George Adamson at Kora National Reserve.

Rendall and Bourke (erroneously cited in various sources as Berg), along with their girlfriends Jennifer Mary Taylor and Unity Jones, cared for the lion where they lived in London until it was a year old. Christian's increasing size and the increasing cost of his care led Rendall and Bourke to understand they could not keep him in London.[1] When Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, stars of the film Born Free, visited Rendall and Bourke's furniture shop and met Christian, they suggested that Bourke and Rendall ask the assistance of George Adamson. Adamson, the Kenyan conservationist — who together with his wife Joy were the center of the movie Born Free — agreed to reintegrate Christian into the wild at his compound in the Kora National Reserve. Virginia McKenna writes about the experience in her memoir The Life in My Years, published March 2009.

Adamson introduced Christian to an older lion, Boy who was an actor in the movie Born Free and who also featurned prominently in the documentary film 'The Lions Are Free', and subsequently to a female cub Katiana in order to form the nucleus of a new pride. The pride suffered many setbacks: Katiana was possibly devoured by crocodiles at a watering hole; another female was killed by wild lions; and Boy was severely injured, afterwards losing his ability to socialize with other lions and humans, and was shot by Adamson after fatally wounding a man. These events left Christian as the sole surviving member of the original pride.

Over the course of a year, as George Adamson continued his work, the pride established itself in the region around Kora, with Christian as the head of the pride started by Boy.[2]

[edit] Reunions

[edit] Reunion with Rendall and Bourke in 1972

When Rendall and Bourke were informed by Adamson of Christian's successful reintroduction to the wild (reported in some newspaper articles to be in 1971, and by George Adamson to be 1972[3]), they travelled to Kenya to visit Christian and were filmed in the documentary Christian, The Lion at World's End. According to the documentary, Adamson advised Rendall and Bourke that Christian might not remember them. The film shows the lion at first cautiously approach and then quickly leap gently onto the two men, standing on his hind legs and wrapping his front legs around their shoulders, nuzzling their faces. The documentary also shows the female lions, Mona and Lisa, and a foster cub named Supercub welcoming the two men.[4]

A viral video of this reunion (edited from the documentary) received worldwide attention more than 30 years after the event. As of December 2008, several versions have been viewed millions of times.[5] Various news sources have tracked down Rendall and Bourke for their current perspective on the events surrounding their life with Christian.[6]

[edit] Reunion with Rendall in 1973

Rendall details a final, unfilmed reunion that occurred (reported in some newspaper articles to have been in 1974, and by George Adamson to have been in 1973[7]). This reunion occurred without Bourke, and by this time Christian was successfully defending his own pride, had cubs of his own and was about twice the size he was in the earlier reunion video.[8] Adamson advised Rendall that it would most likely be a wasted trip as he had not seen Christian's pride for nine months. However, when he reached Kora, Christian and his pride had returned to Adamson's compound the day before their arrival.

Rendall describes the visit he and George Adamson made:[1]

“ We called him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly. Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders. ”

The second reunion lasted until the next morning. According to Rendall that was the last anyone saw of Christian.[1]

George Adamson counted the days from the late spring 1973 final reunion. He notes in his book 'My Pride And Joy' that after 97 days, he stopped counting.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Victoria Moore (2007). "Christian, the lion who lived in my London living room". The Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-452820/Christian-lion-lived-London-living-room.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-05. 
  2. ^ [Documentary, Christian: The Lion at the End of the World]
  3. ^ George Adamson, My Pride and Joy, caption to hugging reunion picture, page 224
  4. ^ Born Free Foundation (2008-07-28). "Christian the lion - Full ending". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvCjyWp3rEk&fmt=18. Retrieved on 2008-12-26. 
  5. ^ "Christian the Lion - the full story (in HQ)". 2008-06-28. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adYbFQFXG0U&fmt=18. Retrieved on 2008-12-26. 
  6. ^ Mike Celizic (2008). "Man in ‘hugging’ lion video reveals its secrets". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25797678/. Retrieved on 2008-12-05. 
  7. ^ a b Adamson, My Pride and Joy, chapter 12 (1971-1973), page 231
  8. ^ Mike Celizic (2008). "‘Hugging’ lion’s ex-owners reflect on his legacy". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25929574/. Retrieved on 2008-12-05. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_the_lion"
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