Christian, reunited with Australian foster parents

Two Aussies John Rendall and Anthony "Ace" Bourke originally purchased a young lion named Christian, from Harrods department store of London in 1969 and ultimately reintroduced to the African wild by conservationist George Adamson. One year after George Adamson released Christian to the wild, his former owners decided to go looking for him to see whether Christian would remember them.
The lion Christian grew up with the Australian foster parents (left)John Rendall & (right)Anthony "Ace" Bourke in Chelsea in London.George Adamson (3 February 1906 – 20 August 1989), also known as the "Baba ya Simba" ("Father of Lions" in Swahili), was a wildlife conservationist and author. He and his wife Joy Adamson are best known through the movie Born Free and best selling book with the same title, which is based on the true story of Elsa the Lioness an orphaned lioness cub they raised and later released into the wild. Several other films have been made based on Adamson's life. On 20 August 1989, the 83-year-old Adamson was shot to death at Kora Reserve by Somalian bandits when he went to the aid of a tourist.
He is buried at the reserve next to his lion friend named Boy. Also buried there are George's brother, Terrance Adamson and Supercub the lion.

Christian reunion with John and Ace after some months separation. This was 1972 in Kenya.

Rendall describes the visit he and George Adamson made: We called him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly. Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.
The second reunion lasted until the next morning. According to Rendall that was the last anyone saw of Christian. George Adamson counted the days from the late spring 1973 final reunion. He notes in his book My Pride And Joy that after 97 days, he stopped counting.

Here is the video of their reunion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNTdWbVBgc

Get ready with your handkerchief.

This is Christian celebrating Easter Holiday in John & Ace apartment in London with the baby chickens when he was very young. He never hurt any animal or human. So amazing, and a fantastic lion!

This is John Rendall, one of the foster parents. He is working with the Animal Rights and he is a writer. And was in Oslo Norway, invited on October 2, 2009 in one of the most popular local-tv entetainment programs called Skavlan, every Friday evening on Channel nrk1. Nrk1 tv-host is Fredrik Skavlan. He invites guests around the world like vip´s, head leaders, artists, singers, dancers, writers, scientists, ordinary people with good accomplishments, recognitions, stories. And John Rendall is one of them and was glad to answer questions about Christian, the lion.

Here are some of the questions from the people in Norway, with answers from John:
*Hello :)
Thank you for a beautiful story. I'm have Christian on my facebook. Have a nice day here in Oslo.-Sent by AK. And what a beautiful day. We Aussies love beautiful weather... where there is no dust storm! John
*I really LOVED the movie
and watched it many times, and have shown it to co-workers, family and friends. Do U think other people should atempt what U did?-Sent by Ivar Mikkelsen. Definitely not. We were so lucky. But, you can adopt a lion at a zoo and visit regularly.. they will get to know you and remember you. Zoos have made huge changes to the old Victorian prison style zoo. They are now centers of research and important gene pools for endangered species. John
*Moments
I was wondering, what was the funniest moments you had when you lived with the lion?-Sent by Anne-Karen. Once I went round to collect a girlfriend. She was still in the bath so Christian and I were waiting for her in the living room. He got bored though and wandered down the hall, to the bathroom. The girlfriend was not best pleased when Christian decided he need to have a drink from the bath... despite her being in it. She gave such a scream poor christian came belting up the hall... the only time I think he was ever frightened. John
*Lion
How was it to live with a lion? What did he eat?-Sent by Geir. Food? LOTS! 4 meals a day. Two liquid, mixed baby food, raw eggs, vitamins; and two solid, meat, bone meal, marrow. John

I wonder how Anthony "Ace" Bourke and Christian are doing since? Going to ask John when he comes back. Have a nice day. Good night! - the masoria papers