CHRISTIAN
I received an email from a friend about an extrordinary lion named Christian. Nearly 30 yrs. ago, two men from England, Anthony Burke and John Rendell bought a lion cub at a Harrod’s Department store. Anthony, John, John’s girlfriend and another friend took care and responsibility for the lion cub. Never knew lion cubs were sold to the public and no one thought twice about it back then, apparently.
They raised him at their home. They shared their lives with him. He did everything with them including sleeping as the picture clearly depicts.
They taught him to hug as seen here in the following video:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=2y90H77aPt0%26hl%3Den%26fs%3D1%26rel%3D0
When it became apparent to Anthony and John that Christian needed to be a lion in the wild, they came upon a chance meeting with one of the main actors, Bill Travers, from the movie “Born Free” who introduced them to George Adamson who had a wild animal sancturay in Kenya. George would teach wild animals to go back into the wild.
Christian was placed at the retreat. After a year had passed, John and Anthony wanted to visit Christian. They were told Christian wouldn’t remember them. As the following video shows, that didn’t hold true. This is a must-see video for anyone who loves animals!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=zVNTdWbVBgc%26hl%3Den%26fs%3D1%26rel%3D0
The reunion went on all day and night until Christian decided to go back to his den to his lioness and cubs. The other lions came over to the men as well because they trusted Christian’s judgement. The day of the video was the last day Christian was seen by the men.
A book and movie were made about Christian. It was written, produced and directed by Bill Travers and James Hill, Director of Born Free. Has anyone seen the movie or read the book?
Sadly, George Adamson and two of his assistants were murdered by poachers who had snuck onto to the sanctuary to kill an animal.
Christian – simply amazing!