Many of us may dream of the time when we would wrestle with a lion in a playful way but we may never really imagine that it would take place. There have been some of these animals that were raised in people’s homes and they were quite friendly, similar to having a very large house cat. This is a story about such a lion and something that will touch your heart and perhaps even make a tear or two appear.
Two Australians encountered a lion in the African bush about 50 years ago. Perhaps you’ve heard about Christian the lion but if you haven’t, you are about to hear the story and it is well worth knowing. It shows you that animals have a heart and they have the ability to bond with people for the long-term.
It started when John Rendall and Anthony “Ace” Bourke met in London at a shop and there was a young lion there. It was inside the department store, Harrods and back in 1969, there was a zoo inside.
“In the center of it were these two beautiful, beautiful lion cubs,” John told the BBC. He was immediately drawn to the male lion.
He had a nature that was instantly attractive. You could see that he wasn’t frightened, he wasn’t distressed. He was just above it all. And that is very, very irresistible.”
Although these two Australians had just come to London they knew that they wanted to buy that beautiful lion. They convinced the staff at Harrods that they would be good owners.
They ended up paying the equivalent of $4600 for Christian the lion in today’s money. They then put the lion on a lead and walked him right out of Harrods.
It is not unusual for a lion to seek companionship with humans. They are social animals and if other lions are not around, humans will do just fine. They all lived together in a London flat above a furniture shop.
“We realised that we were living with an incredibly complex, intelligent animal. He was very observant, always looking.”
Christian the lion lived on Kings Road in an area where celebrities, rock stars and fashion designers lived. Christian became a celebrity as well. The problem was, he was growing very fast and they needed a different home that was larger.
That is when they met up with George Adamson, an expert in lion behavior. They agreed that they would try to release Christian into the wild in Kenya.
A year later, Ace Bourke and John Rendall decided to go back and see how Christian was adapting to his new wilderness home. People thought they were crazy for wanting to check up on a ‘wild animal’.
It took a while for them to spot Christian but they eventually found him in the Kora region. He was now a large lion and had a beautiful mane starting.
“He starts walking very very slowly down towards us. The body language was of curiosity – not attack. Eventually we couldn’t resist, and called him – and that’s when he took off.”
Christians started running toward the men. Would he recognize them or would they attack? Thankfully, the resulting video was so touching that is has now reached legendary status online. You can watch the video below but just make sure you have your tissues ready, you’ll need them: