 Christian would have turned 42 on August 12 if he is still alive. Of course that is impossible. Given luck a lion can live up to 15 years in the wild. Once upon a time, there was a zoo department in Harrods and nobody thought of making laws against keeping exotic animals as pets. Two young men, Ace and John, bought a lion cub from the department store and named him Christian. They raised him like a child and developed a strong bond with this extraordinary creature. When Christian grew so big that it was no longer possible for them to keep him domestically, they made arrangements to return Christian to the wild in Kenya. The project could have easily gone wrong. But Christian made it. He got accepted by other lions and ultimately set up his own pride at Cora . Ace and John returned to London and thought that was the final goodbye. Only it was not. One year later they returned to Kenya, wondering if Christian would recognize his old pals if they were ever to meet again. Would he? (You can mute it if you are not in the mood for Whitney Houston.) |
Links
Ace Bourke's blog
A Lion Called Christian
Christian on wikipedia
Born Free Foundation
George Adamson Trust
Youtube - A Lion Called Christian full story
