The Story Behind Christian, the YouTube Lion

By now, many of you have seen the heartwarming YouTube video of Christian the lion reuniting with his former owners in Kenya. While there are many versions of this video on YouTube, the Born Free Foundation has recently released the last six minutes of the movie, Christian, The Lion at World's End, which contains the entire video. Born Free Foundation owner Virginia McKenna gives us a commentary of that day, and talks about the first few years of Christian's life.

The two Australians who cared for Christian initially (the two men in the video), John Rendall and Ace Burg, discovered the lion at a Harrods shopping store in London in 1969, and bought him in order to free the cub from his cramped living quarters.

Rendall and Burg raised the adorable lion below a furniture store in Chelsea, London, and a local priest allowed the men and the cub to run around a nearby graveyard. This is also how the cub got his name, Christian.

In a move that might have made some conservationists cringe, Christian's owners allowed him to live the highlife. Christian was allowed into restaurants, was driven around in posh Bentleys, and was even in a commercial for Biba, a popular English fashion store in West London.

Eighteen months after Rendall and Burg saved the lion cub from a lonely existence, he grew to be too big and rambunctious for the apartment, and the men decided to introduce him to the wild through conservationists Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, who had recently starred in the movie Born Free.

In 1971, Travers and McKenna handed Christian over to lion-conservationist George Adamson in Kenya, at the Kora Reserve, where the lion was taught how to survive in the wild. Before long, Christian has his own pack and was thriving in the wild.

A year Later, Rendall and Burg flew to Kenya to reunite with their lion friend, despite the warnings of conservationists, who said the lion would not recognize them. Despite this potential threat, the two men went with Adamson to meet the lion, and amazingly, Christian recognized his friends after only a moment of hesitation.

Christian's pack accepted him as well. After the initial greeting, the men were able to sit down with his pride and they even played with his cub. According to George Adamson, Christian left the reserve in 1973 on his own to expand his territory.

This lion touched the heart of many, and continues to do so, thanks to his "rebirth" on YouTube.

To support the Born Free Foundation, go to http://www.bornfree.org.uk.