christian the lion

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 [hide] 1 Relocation 2 Reunions 2.1 Reunion with Rendall and Bourke in 1972 2.2 Reunion with Rendall in 1973 3 References 4 External links //

Relocation 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]

Reunions

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