Christian the lion story.

They retold the story of going to London's Harrods department store in 1969 out of curiosity. A friend had told them she had asked the manager of the exotic animal department if she could buy a camel, and with classic British aplomb, he had dryly asked, "Would that be one hump or two, ma'am?" The two young men, who had grown up in Australia and recently graduated from college, were keen to see such a place.

At the store, they spotted a 35-pound lion cub in a little cage. Like kids enthralled by a puppy in a pet store window, they had to have him.

"It was an irresistible sight," Rendall said. "We were rather shocked when we saw this cub in Harrods in a department store in a very small cage. Not only was he totally entrancing, we must be able to do something better for him. He can't stay in a cage this size," he remembers thinking.

They named him Christian and took him home to their pad in the Kings Road, the hippest address in the hippest part of London — Chelsea.

"We had such a beautiful relationship with him," Bourke said. "There was such trust between
Christian's former owners had been told the lion wouldn't recognize them. But the video shows the lion's obvious joy at being reunited with the two men. He ran toward us with such love and excitement in his eyes, and we felt exactly the same way. We were just so excited to see him, looking so big and healthy. The story had just turned out so beautifully, when it could have had a very different ending."

Rendall referred to the film in describing the reunion. "You can see in that clip his body language," he said. "When he first starts seeing us, he's looking, looking. Is it us? Is it us? And then suddenly, he says, 'Right, this is them.' And down he comes. And there wasn't a moment that we ever doubted that it was going to be a wonderful greeting ... we never doubted it."

Bourke and Rendall saw Christian a final time in 1974, by which time he had doubled in size and was now king of the jungle, with a pride of lionesses and a batch of cubs.

"He still recognized us," Rendall said. "He was with wild lionesses. He had a litter of cubs and his genes had been passed on back into the wild. After that time we saw him, he was never seen again. It was like a final farewell ... he was completely integrated back into the wild."

The experience moved Rendall, who lives in London, to devote his life to conservation; today he is a trustee of the Adamson Trust. Bourke, who became a dealer in Aboriginal art in his native Australia, is also a supporter of preserving wildlife.

Both hope that the millions of people who have been so moved by the clip contribute to the cause.

"We're just hoping that people who have enjoyed this clip — it's a phenomenal number — if they would want to contact the George Adamson Trust through www.wildlifenow.com and support us and support conservation, it would be wonderful to contribute to George's memory," Rendall said.


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, 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."

John Rendall

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• christian
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• lion
• story
• touching

[Plasser56]

I can't get enough of Christian and I cry EVERY time I see him. I've fallen in love, head over heels, with Christian. It kills me that he's gone, that after two times, he never saw Ace and John again. This is the most incredible animal story I have EVER heard about or read about. I bought the book and bought the DVD. They give the ENTIRE story of this MAGNIFICENT lion, Christian. He really was perfect.

[longlivelions]

Cute!

[KroniicKiid]

R.I.P Christian, the best lion ever <3

[Yaqidh]

The writing should have been put at the bottom, it hinders one from seeing the pics.

[cpnewstoday2011]

HE DIED = (

[DeadlyTrust]

@davejb23 ahahahaha true dat

[davejb23]

learn how to spell you idiot

[Eidolin]

oh dear god they're sharing a pillow.....they are so cute....these guys...are so cute T__T <333

[lisahamsterpoes999]

is christian dead?

[lakersfan63]

I love this story, but I don't see the sense of retelling this story, especially if your English is soooo bad!

[stellaamyshim]

I LOVE YOU CHRISTIAN

we'll see you in heaven~

[matmanv2]

this is almost the worst video i have ever seen. only fred can top how terribly stupid this was. jesus christ.