Lion Cub Reunited with Adopted Family
Would a wild and untamed alpha lion remember it’s experiences as a pet cub? Would it’s natural instincts not overwhelm all else? Aesop‘s fable “The Gazelle and the Lion” leads us to the conclusion that a beast cannot change it’s true nature. Well this heartwarming story suggests differently…
In 1969, Australians John Rendall and Anthony “Ace” Bourke adopted a lion from Harrods department store in London. It sounds absurd today, I know! They named it Christian. Apparently the store was eager to sell the cub, which had escaped to destroy the merchandise in the carpet department. The cub grew quickly in the following year, as lion cubs do, and Rendall and Bourke could no longer keep him in their basement, so they obtained permission to exercise Christian in the local church graveyard from the local vicar, while also taking him on trips to the seaside. Son though, the men realised that they could no longer keep Christian in London and they were introduced to a Kenyan conservationist called George Adamson, who ad raised and released Elsa the Lioness. Adamson agreed to reintegrate Christian into the wildfrom his compund in the Kora National Reserve.
One year later (1971), after Christian had been successfully re-introduced to the wild, the men decided to visit him. Adamson warned them that Christian was now not just fully grown but had become the alpha male of the pride and was thus completely wild. But the men stuck to their grounds and this video footage is the recorded product. It shows us that love can truly triumph over all and makes me all gooey inside… if you hold back a tear, you’re stronger than me!
This extraordinary footage of the enormous lion running and playfully lapping at it’s prior adopted parents faces is a clip taken from a documentary filmed at the time; Christian, The Lion at World’s End (released in the U.S. as Christian the Lion). Since it’s release onto YouTube in 2009, almost four decades after the event, the video has still attracted 14 million viewers. And in September 2008, Sony Pictures announced that it was obtaining the rights to the story of Christian’s life for the purpose of making a feature film.
This is so moving, especially for me since I had a similar experience with a Cougar named Charlie. They do remember us and though they will never return as pets they also never forget their human - wildlife bond. Very humbling and very fulfilling to see it happen with other caring humans.
Read the book "Christian the Lion" really cool story! #lion
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like