Christian The Lion The Internet Phenomenon

I am writing this at 3.30 am because it is so warm a night  that I can't sleep and as I was listening to the BBC World Service on the radio this clip came on so I looked the story up.  Voila !

In 2008 a two-minute grainy film clip appeared on YouTube and immediately became an international phenomenon. 
It garnered tens of millions of views and has now proved to be one of the most watched internet videos of all time.

Here it is again and if you have seen it, well here it is, again

A truly amazing and joyfully uplifting heart warming story.................and prepare for tears.




This link takes you to  the ten minute recording of the BBC World Service clip I was listening to and you can also download it as a podcast.

This is the link to the BBC News site with more of the story.

In their recently re-published book A Lion Called Christian, John Rendall and Anthony Burke acknowledged that back in 1969 they were naive.
They concede that buying exotic animals only serves to fuel the trafficking of them and this practice is now outlawed in Britain.

Today Mr Rendall says nobody should try to raise a lion in an urban environment in the way that he did. The dangers are obvious.

But Mr Rendall was profoundly influenced by his time with Christian.

He became interested in conservation work, and today he is heavily involved with the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust.

As for Christian, his re-introduction to the wild was successful.

He was last heard of crossing the Tana River and heading further north.

And it is very likely that right now there are lions prowling the Kenyan bush who are descendants of Christian the Lion from London.

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