the minds of lions
 

a friend sent me this video this morning. it is from the mid 70's, but i think it's worth seeing.
here's the link and the snopes check page. enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNTdWbVBgc

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/christian.asp

virginia, thank you much for sharing this video!
shed some tears seeing him in the wilds and playing with these two city slickers which took great care of him when he was a cub ;-)

was a great moment to see christian. especially as it prooves how wrongfully humans tend to underestimate animal's instincts and wisdom.

i got to know the lady who helped george adamson in the 80ies with his lions in kora before it became NP. she became an adoreable friend of ours.

thx again for these wonderful moments!

div

What a lovely video. I am amazed actually how he could have been raised by humans but returned to the wild.
Someone posted that he was in fact stalking them then recognized them. It didn't look like he was stalking them at all, but then again I haven't seen the 'unedited' version the poster talked about.
He definitely seemed pleased to see them. Love it.

I went to a Born Free Foundation fundraiser at the Royal Geographical Society in London and one of the young men in the video (John Rendall) gave a fascinating and moving talk about Christian and his release into the wild. He and Ace really loved this lion and in fact there were few dry eyes in the place after parts of his story. The Born Free Foundation helped with Christian's return to the wild and still do marvellous work with rehabilitation projects and campaigns to stop zoo cruelty.
http://www.bornfree.org.uk/

Sorry to sound negative - but, the Aerosmith song sounded very cheesy here in the video clip.

Also - I really hope the Youtube community doesn't get the impression that they ought to have Lions as pets. The reason I say this, we read a lot about Cats as pets in Western countries, and that story usually doesn't have a fairy tale ending.

That was great. Very touching:)

Hmmm...

I do appreciate that this all occured at a time when there really wasn't the same understanding and awareness about the unsuitably of animals such as lions as pets.

And that it worked out OK for Christian the lion in the end.

Of course, there were many more big cats which were bought as pets back then and then, when the owners couldn't cope with them, released into the wild in the UK!

My main worry is that distributing a link such as this might encourage a few people to try and get hold of a lion cub as a pet and that would really not be great.

I remember reading (but am unable to find a reliable source to confirm or deny) that there are more tigers living in captivity in HOMES in the USA than there are living in the wild! Could that be true, do you think?

I'm taking the video for what it is (sweet) rather than wonder if it will influence weak minded souls to go to their local .5 &.10 to buy a pet lion.

Thanks for the smile.

Kavey,

Yes, I believe that I've read the same thing. But, remember our parks department in India is corrupt and useless!!! Hence numbers are dropping everyday.

Imagine introducing two Tigers from Ranthambore to Sariska last week? I find it difficult to believe. One park that has been ravaged by poaching has to send the Tigers to the park where they have been completely wiped out ......... SAD!!!

Yes, Hari, I find it so frustrating to read about the situation of tigers in India. A national symbol and yet... not enough is being done and what is being done is being undone again by corruption!

Because of this, I suspect the only hope for the survival of the species lies in the work of zoos and safari parks around the rest of the world.

Cybor, I did find the video sweet and didn't mean to imply it was wrong to do so. I simply expressed a worry about what some folk might do on the back of it.

Perhaps if anyone in 'the youtube community' thinks that big cats are pets they should see this clip ... )(apologies if it's done the rounds here before)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C69jR-1CL10

tockoloshe
never poke a leopard......great video!

of course the guys' behaviour asked for the leopards revenge.
amazingly the cat knew exactly who to go for! admire the smartness of that cat.

btw
i think it was not only a re-location for the cat's good sake :-(

div

After seeing Hari & Kavey's interest in the plight of tigers I thought this article about captive breeding in China might be of interest. I don't think anyone would argue with the sentiment:
'Tigers are wild creatures; that is how we used to treat them and respect them, and putting them behind bars, denuding them of their instincts and their traditional behaviours, has no place in a world which claims to be civilised.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6750349.stm

I really enjoyed this story of Christian the lion...I had never heard about it before. And I must confess that I didn't read your responses before viewing the video. After watching it, I would never imagine that anyone would take this in such a way that they would want to own their own lion. But I guess there are always those out there...but I think those types will do stupid things even without this video as incentive.

Interesting link, Thank You!

UUugh, how horrible.

I have heard the argument raised before that breeding tigers in captivity reduces the need to poach them in the wild but I disagree.

In my opinion, what it does is keep the trade running, keep the belief in tiger-based "medicines" alive and thereby ensures that there is still a market for wild tiger parts.

"When the buying stops, the killing will too" is a slogan I think is spot on.

But how to persuade people of a very different culture that their belief in animal parts as medicine/ magic needs to stop?

:(

Can anyone explain why there are 12,766 captive Tigers in USA?

Also, watched a documentary recently - where Tiger skins are still being used by warriors in Tibet to display strength. Not just for the idiot herbalists......

Anyone going to be following the Olympics this time? I probably won't ......

Sniktawk, could you let me know where you found that figure? I had googled for similar info and not been able to find. Thanks.