Christian (Leo)

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Christian (* 1969, † after 1973) was a lion that the Australians John Rendall and Anthony (Ace) Bourke bought as a young animal from the London department store Harrods in 1969 . He was later brought back to the African wilderness by conservationist George Adamson . It was the first (and to date only) time that a fifth-generation captive-born lion "rehabilitated"; H. could be released into the wild. A year after Adamson released the lion, his previous owners decided to visit him to see if he would recognize them. It was indeed the case; the men were also not attacked by the two lionesses who were with Christian. He was last seen in 1973.

Great Britain

Christian was originally by Harrods of the dissolved Zoo of Ilfracombe in the county of Devon acquired. After the lion escaped from its cage one night and destroyed the goods in the carpet department, they really wanted to sell it. Rendall and Bourke bought Christian for 250 guineas , which would correspond to today's (2017) purchasing power of around 4,000 euros.

Rendall and Bourke and their friends Jennifer Mary Taylor and Unity Jones looked after the lion in their London apartment until he was one year old. When he got bigger, the men took Christian to their living quarters in the basement. Rendall and Bourke received permission from a local pastor to train with Christian on the churchyard grounds; they also took the lion with them on day trips to the sea.

As Christian grew and the cost of caring for it increased, Rendall and Bourke realized they could no longer keep the animal in London. After Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna  - stars of the film Free Born  - saw Christian, they suggested asking Kenyan conservationist George Adamson for assistance. Adamson, who with his wife Joy raised the lioness Elsa and released her, offered to reintegrate the lion in the enclosure of Kora National Park .

Kenya

After three months of negotiations, it was achieved that Kenya would allow the import of a live lion. Adamson introduced Christian to the older Lion Boy , who starred in the film Born Free as well as in the documentary The Lions Are Free . Furthermore, the young lioness Katarina was added to the pack . Katarina was probably attacked and devoured by a crocodile at a waterhole; another female was killed by wild lions, and Boy became so aggressive after being seriously injured that he had to be shot by Adamson when he attacked and fatally injured a guard. Only Christian survived. In the course of a year Christian was able to assert himself as the pack leader and successor to Boy .

After Rendall and Bourke heard about the successful release from Adamson, they traveled to Kenya. They were filmed there for the documentary "Christian, the Lion at World's End" (in the USA "Christian the lion"). Another meeting took place in 1972 (after some newspaper reports in 1974, after George Adamson in 1973). At this point Christian was able to successfully defend his pack and meanwhile had offspring of his own.

After the last meeting, Christian was no longer seen.

Media coverage

A video of the 1971 meeting, taken from the documentary, was first posted on a fan website in 2002 and later on YouTube . By July 2009, the video, which was uploaded in several versions, had been viewed 15 million times. Since then, various media outlets have visited Rendall and Bourke to ask them what they think about the events today.

In September 2008 Sony Pictures announced that they were interested in the film rights to the story of Christian life.

In 2010 the children's book "Christian, the hugging lion" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell was published with drawings by Amy June Bates. The book was nominated for the final Lambda Literary Award in the Children's / Young Adults Fiction category.

Documentaries

  • Christian the Lion (Original: The Lion at World's End ), directed by Bill Travers, UK 1971 ( IMDB-Link )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Viktoria Moore: Christian, the lion who lived in my London living room. dailymail.co.uk, May 4, 2007, accessed March 20, 2011 .
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.measuringworth.com
  3. ↑ Bourke was erroneously cited as Berg in various sources
  4. ↑ youtube.com
  5. ↑ a b Christian the lion. imdb.com, accessed March 20, 2011 .
  6. ↑ George Adamson: My Pride and Joy. (German: My Lions, My Life ), p. 224.
  7. ^ G. Adamson: My Pride and Joy. Chapter 12 (1971-1973), p. 231.
  8. ↑ a b Mike Celizic: 'Hugging' lion's ex-owners reflect on his legacy. msnbc.msn.com, July 30, 2008, accessed March 20, 2011 .
  9. ^ Christian The Lion - A True Story. kimbawlion.com, accessed March 20, 2011 .
  10. ^ Christian the lion to bring Aussie story to big screen. couriermail.com.au, accessed March 20, 2011 .
  11. ^ Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell: Christian, the Hugging Lion. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-1-4169-8662-1 .
  12. ↑ 23rd Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists and Winners. Lambda Literary Foundation. (English), accessed on August 27, 2012.