Elsa, an orphaned lion cub, was raised in Kenya by the naturalist Joy Adamson
in 1955 and was taken back to the African wilderness 3 years later.
Joy Frederike Victoria Adamson was born in Germany in 1910. She worked with
her third husband, British game warden George Adamson, in Kenya. She wrote three
books about her adventures with Elsa : ' Born free' , ' Living free' and ' Forever
free' .
James Hill made a movie about this story in 1966.
On January 3rd, 1980 Joy Adamson was murdered by a former employee.
The Adamsons got Elsa when George had to shoot a wild lioness that attacked
him. She had 3 cubs; two of them were sent to a zoo and Elsa, the third one,
lived with Joy from then on. When Elsa turned 3 it was about time to teach her
to livein the wild. The Adamsons first tried to release Elsa in the Masai-Mara
Reserve in southern Kenya. But she couldn't get used to the climate change and
became ill. After she recovered they released her at the Meru Reserve. She accustomed
quickly but never seemed to be interested in other lions. Geroge Adamsom visted
her occasionally and in the fall 1959 he, finally saw her with a male lion.
Now they knew that she could take care of herself and live with other lions.
It
was in September when Elsa found her mate which meant the cubs would be born
in December. On December 19th Elsa dissapeared and stayed away until Christmas.
Joy tried to follow her back to her den several times but Elsa kept tricking
her by going the wrong way. Finally, on February 2, 1960, Elsa presented her
new family to the Adamsons. She had 3 cubs : Jespha, Gopa and little Elsa. Jespha
was the only one who eventually became friendly with humans. The other cubs
were always more wild.
In the meantime a rival lioness was trying to take over Elsa's territory. Many
a night Elsa left her cubs in camp with the Adamsons while she fought the other
lioness.
As
a Christmas present, the Adamsons recieved an order from the government to remove
the lions from the Meru Reserve. They said that because Elsa was half-tame,
she was potentially dangerous.
While Joy was in Nairobi organizing a new home for the lions, Elsa became ill
with babesia. She died on January 24, 1961, just before Joy returned from Nairobi.
After her death the cubs became very shy and wild. They started to kill livestock,
which the local tribesmen did not like at all. For that reason the Adamsons
moved the young lions to the Seringeti in May. Even though Elsa had died almost
a year before the cubs would have normally lived on their own, they adjusted
there very well and were living free in the wild.