In 1969 a young Australian, John Rendall and his friend Ace Bourke, bought a small lion cub from Harrods pet department, which was then legal. 'Christian' was kept in the basement of a furniture shop on the Kings Road in Chelsea, in the heart of the swinging sixties. Loved by all, the affectionate cub ate in a local restaurant, played in a nearby graveyard, but was growing fast...
A chance encounter with Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna led to a new life for Christian. He came to live in a huge enclosure and to sleep in a caravan at their Surrey home. Then in 1971 he was flown to Kenya, his ancestral home, and returned to the wild by lion-man George Adamson. Nine months later in 1972, John and Ace returned to Kora in Kenya. This clip is of their reunion at that time.
It was an emotional reunion: "He ran towards us, threw himself onto us, knocked us over and hugged us, with his paws on our shoulders."
by John Rendall
SCENES FROM THE MOVIE CREATED BY THE BORN FREE FOUNDATION
Oh! my beautiful Christie, my sweet Angel. You always have the talent to draw tears from my eyes. You and so many beautiful, beautiful, Angelic souls are doing a tremendous and fantastic job here. As you know when you relieve yourself you feel so comfortable, when you give you receive in abundance, When you want something badly with a sincere and a pure heart your are sure to get it. If you want proof visit me on the Facebook - Quintus Andradi (Quintus_Andradi). In fact i would love to have all my friends there too.
I used to write so much, that my daughter through compassion bought me this computer about four or five months back and i did not have a clue how to operate it. You will see in my profile what i wanted "I wanted to reach out to the people all over the world, that's why i joined the Facebook, thinking i'll be able to reach out to the world, but it was really through the facebook that i found ipeace. Now you can clearly see the outcome, i have found the most beautiful and heavenly family in the world, with brothers and sisters from all corners of the world. My sweet Christie and my brothers and sisters in this beautiful family, I LOVE YOU, ILOVE YOU VERY MUCH.... GOD BLESS YOU...Adolphus - Quintus
Thank you so much Quintus for your wonderful words on Peace and Friendship. I love you too, my wise friend! May God Bless and Keep YOU always! Big Hugs! Namaste!
Hello Ravishankara! I'm glad you enjoyed the video! It's pretty amazing, isn't it? Such a heartwarming story! Thanks for checking it out! :D Here is different photo of Kevin Richardson, another man who loves lions (they call him "the lion whisperer).