Whims published... It's not an expert's opinion, It's not an online diary, It's not a web journal... It is just my whims published

[Animal Planet aired a documentary, 'A lion called Christian' last night. Touched by the documentary I thought of sharing this with you all]

This is going to be a special one of all the tales of reunion you have heard and seen till date. The reunion I'm referring to is between a lion named Christian and two Australian men Ace Bourke and John Rendall. The two men on a trip to England in 1969 bought a lion cub (it seems it was legal in England then to buy and rear wild animals!) and gave him all the love and care 'the small cat' needed. Ace and John kept supplying 3 kgs of meat everyday to Christian; they played with him in the garden of a church after seeking special permission to use the garden as a playground for the lion! Christian started growing big and strong and was becoming unwieldy for the two men day by day. Not willing to leave Christian to the Zoo and to confine his life to the cage forever, Ace and John thought of alternatives. Then the men happened to meet Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna of Born Free fame, with their advice, the two men sent Christian to Kenya for the rehabilitation under the supervision of George Adamson, an animal conservationist. The bonding between the men and Christian was so much that the two men quit their jobs and relocated to Kenya for few weeks to spend some time with Christian before he was trained, acclimatized and released to the wild by George Adamson.

Below is the famous clip of reunion between Christian and the two men after one year of Chrsitian's release into the wild. When Ace and John flew to Kenya to see Christian, George Adamson had warned the duo that Christian might have forgotten them and could prove fatal to their lives if he leaps upon them thinking they are strangers. The video features Christian leaping upon the duo, but only to bear-hug them with the joy of finding his old pals.

Kudos to the unconditional bonding between humans and animals..

[Two young men in the video are Ace and John, the old chap is George Adamson, the commentary is by Virginia McKenna]

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