most beautiful reunion...

Christian is the name of a lion bought from Harrods Department Store in 1969 by Australian John Rendall and his friend Ace Bourke. Harrods acquired the cub from Ilfracombe Zoo and sold Christian for 250 guineas...along with diet sheets to accompany him! So began Christian's year as an urban lion. Christian was given his own living quarters (& a very large kitty-litter tray, which he used unfailingly) in the basement of the appropriately named Sophistocat furniture shop.

"For a year, the Big Cat was a part of it all, cruising the streets in the back of a Bentley, eating in the finest London restaurants and spending his days lounging in a furniture shop. Within a year, Christian grew from 35 lbs to 185 lbs and a chance meeting sealed his new life. Actors Bill Travers & Virginia McKenna of Born Free walked into the shop to buy a pine desk & suggested that he be taken to Kora National Reserve in Kenya where he was rehabilitated into the wild by the "Lion Man," George Adamson. Throughout Christian's rehabilitation into the wild, John Rendall & Ace Bourke continued to make sporadic visits. In 1974, George Adamson wrote to say that the pride was self-sufficient. Christian was defending it. There was a litter of cubs. They were feeding themselves and rarely returned to camp. Rendall and Ace decided to travel to Kora one last time, in the hope of being able to say goodbye, though Adamson warned them that it would almost certainly be a wasted mission as Christian had not been seen for 9 months.

According to the Daily Mail interview, "Christian arrived last night," he said simply. "He's here with his lionesses & his cubs. He's outside the camp on his favorite rock. He's waiting for you." Adamson & his wife often talked about the mysterious, apparently telepathic communication skills of lions --- particularly between lions and men. Both believed that lions were possessed of a sixth sense & George was convinced that a scientific explanation would one day be found. And here, it seemed, was the proof.
"Christian stared at us in a very intense way," says Rendall. "I knew his expressions & I could see he was interested. We called him & he stood up & 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 & hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.
"Everyone was crying. We were crying, George was crying, even the lion was nearly crying."
"The lionesses were far from pleased. There was a lot of growling and spitting," continues Rendall.
"George said: 'This isn't safe...we'd better go.' So we each put a hand on Christian's back & he walked with us back to camp."
The reunion party went on all night & into the morning. Leaving his exhausted companions to go to their beds, Christian returned to his pride. "We watched him go back to the 2 lionesses, who were not at all happy with this man, smelling of nicotine, whiskey & humans," says Rendall. He just walloped the two of them with his paw, then collapsed."

And that was the last anyone ever saw of him.

This video is of their final meeting.

For the next 14 years, George Adamson remained at Kora National Reserve, rehabilitating several other lions & ignoring warnings from the authorities, who did not consider it safe for him to stay. Then, in 1989, he was ambushed & murdered by bandits. He died with a gun in his hand &, in accordance with his wishes, was buried at Kora. Following his death, his supporters formed the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust, which now does work in Kora as well as Tanzania, where it is reintroducing the endangered black rhino & hunting dog. The trust's chief aim is to keep alive Adamson's dream of a place where animals can roam free --- a fitting epitaph not just for the great conservationist but also for the lion who once lived in Chelsea.
A movie titled Christian the Lion at World's End was made documenting the relocation of Christian from England to Kenya.
(Wikipedia)
thanks, alicia...