Christian is a lion, who has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. This lion was purchased by two Australians named Anthony Bourke and John Rendall from a store in London way back in the year 1969. This lion was reintroduced in the African jungles by famous wildlife conservationist George Adamsons. Christian’s two owners, then decided to look for him in African jungles; almost a year later after he was released in the jungles. They just wanted to see whether he remembers his previous owners or not. To their surprise, Christian remembered both of them and not only this, with him were two lionesses which readily accepted the men. This became of one of the most amazing reunions of all times and gained worldwide attention.
John and Anthony bought Christian from Harrods Department, located in London. John recalled how they bought him for just 250 guineas, when he was a cub. The store owners wanted to sell him as they were irritated with the cub. The store owners recalled that one night Christian escaped from his cage and destroyed property worth thousand guineas. That day they decide to sell him.
John and Anthony were joined by their two more friends named Unity Jones and Jennifer Mary Taylor in raising Christian. All the four friends looked after Christian really well. When Christian became a year older, they moved him to their furniture store. Christian was put in basement of their store, the name of the furniture store was Sophistocat—what a coincidence. They made Christian go through exercises in a nearby Church graveyard. For doing this they had obtained permission from vicar. John and Anthony also used to take him out for a stroll or play on seaside.
As time passed and Christian became more mature and older, both of his owners’ found it very difficult to meet Christian’s increasing demands. The cost of keeping Christian in London was too high and they began to search options for him. Some days later, two actors named Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers of the Born Free fame, visited their furniture store. There both the actors met Christian and was very delighted to see him. They advised John and Anthony to meet George Adamsons, who is a world renowned wildlife conservationist. Anthony and John soon met George who agreed to provide assistance. George then along with his wife Joy reintegrated Christian into Kora National Reserve.
George introduced Christian to one more lion named Boy, who also featured in a documentary film and another lioness named Katania. However, this pride suffered many setbacks. Boy was eaten up by crocodiles after he fell in watering hole, whereas Katania lost her seeing ability and attacked an assistant of George, who killed him in order to save assistants’ life. However, George monitored Christian movement very closely and secured him from potential threats. Almost a year after, Christian was not only grown up but was also heading the pride started by his seniors.
In 1972, George informed John and Anthony about Christian well-being and they decided to go to Kenya to meet him. A documentary named Christian, The Lion at World’s End was also released in this year, highlight the same story. The documentary was inspired by real life incidents that occurred. It showed how Christian recognizes his previous masters and joyfully runs towards them, when he sees them after such a long period of time.
In 1973, John recalled a second reunion that occurred in that year. During this period, Christian had grown to a fully mature male and was successfully defending the pride that he was leading. George had not see Christian and his pride since quite a few months and thus advised John not to visit him, but John insisted on coming. To George’s surprise Christian was spotted in George’s compound a day before John arrived in Kenya. John recalled the reunion, he told that when Christian saw them, he moved slowly and stared at them for a moment and then playfully ran towards them and hugged them. The reunion lasted for quite some time and then they left Christian. That was the last time when Christian was seen.
More than 30 years after this incident, this story of reunion of man and animal is a worldwide hit. It is one of the most searched real life stories on the internet. You will plenty of videos and hits on YouTube, MySpace etc. Their video has been seen over million times on the web. In the year 2008, world entertainment giant Sony even bought rights of story of Christian’s life, for making a movie on this topic.
John and Anthony can never forget this incident. They not only have a great story to tell to others, but also they showed the world how touching and emotional a man-animal relation can be.