Christian the Lion
This is an absolutely beautiful story. In 1969, two men, John Rendall and Anthony, or "Ace," Bourke, bought a lion cub from Harrod's pet department in London and took him home to raise. Raising lions was legal at this time so they named him Christian and treated him like a dear friend. According to an interview with Rendell on MSNBC’s TODAY, Christian was never trained using physical force. The two friends used their tone of voice to make Christian understand what was right and what was wrong. Apparently it worked – Christian never bit anybody.After a while, although, the lion got too big for their home and they decided to reintroduce him into the wild. Their attempt did not only work, but it was incredibly successful. In the year after they took him to Kenya, Christian became the leader of a pride.
But his former friends wanted to see him again. Even though they were warned that Christian may not remember them, this turned out not to be the case. They were not only welcomed by Christian, but by his family. At first Christian slowly approached the men, but after seemingly recognizing them he sped up and jumped into their arms, showing that he still remembered them.
On their very last trip to visit Christian in 1974, the lion had not been seen for three months. Oddly enough, the night before Rendall and Bourke landed, Christian was spotted sitting on a rock near their camp – as if waiting for his friends.
While living with Rendall and Bourke, Christian was treated as part of their family. He frequently joined his friends when they went out to restaurants around London, riding in the back of their Bentley. I believe that this close bond between human and animal was the combination of a highly intelligent animal and a loving and affectionate relationship.
Strong relationships seem to be the reasoning behind much of the scientific experiments done with animals. Jane Goodall needed to have a good one with her chimps and, to cite an earlier post, Dr. Herzing needs one with her dolphins.
Strong relationships seem to be the reasoning behind much of the scientific experiments done with animals. Jane Goodall needed to have a good one with her chimps and, to cite an earlier post, Dr. Herzing needs one with her dolphins.
