For those who haven't seen this already...
Back story...
Christian was a lion purchased in 1969 by two Australians living in London, John Rendall and Anthony 'Ace' Bourke from Harrods department store. They had discovered him for sale in Harrods' exotic pets department and, concerned for his conditions and fate, decided to buy him.
Rendall, Bourke and their girlfriends Jennifer Mary and Unity Jones cared for the lion until it was a year old.
Christian's increasing size and the cost of looking after him led them to the realization that they could not keep him in London for much longer.
The solution came when Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, stars of the film Born Free, visited Rendall and Bourke's furniture shop, where Christian spent his days. They suggested that they ask the assistance of George Adamson, the Kenyan conservationist who, together with his wife Joy, was the subject of their movie.
Adamson agreed to help them rehabilitate Christian into the wild at his compound at Kora National Reserve.
Adamson slowly introduced Christian to an older lion 'Boy' and subsequently to a female cub in order to form the nucleus of a new pride. This approach was successful and over the course of several years the pride established itself in the region around Kora.
Sometime after Christian was released back in to wild and Randall and Bourke went back to see how he was getting on. Unfortunately, Christian had not been seen for 9 months by anyone. But, amazingly, Christian and his pride had returned to Adamson's compound the day before their arrival. This video shows the now wild Christian as he comes face to face with his former “parents” for the first time in a year...
The reunion lasted until the next morning when everyone went to bed. According to Rendall that was the last anyone saw of Christian.
Labels: James G