ELSA - The Famous Lioness

 JOY AND THE THREE CUPS  

It was the famous lioness Elsa which changed our outlook about wild animals. Until then and for decade’s way back, it was the great white hunter daring to confront wild animals and shooting them. After that a picture was taken and mostly with one foot on the dead animal lying in front of him. They didn't talk about the native driven the wild animal towards him. They didn't talk about the many guns besides him in case he missed. In other words the animal had no chance.

In January 1961, Elsa died of tick fiver and it was her 50th anniversary in 2011. For George Adamson it was the worst thing to see his beloved lioness Elsa being a victim of tick fever. He put Elsa on his camp bed and her head on his lap hoping that his wife Joyce would come back in time with a vet from Meru National Park.

George wrote later into his diary: "She sat up, gave a most hear trending and terrible cry and fell over. Elsa was dead. My Elsa gone, Gone, the most wonderful friend and part of my life that nothing can replace." She was only five years old.

                                       

                                     GEORGE ADAMSON

Elsa became famous because she was the first lion raised by hand and successfully released into the wild. She bred in the wild. Joy Adamson told her story and it became a bestseller in 1960 'Born Free'. It caught the imagination of the world and was translated into 25 languages immediately. Six years later a film was made starring Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Traverse. The film was a great success. It also affected Virginia McKenna and Bill Traverse and they established an international wildlife charity called Born Free Foundation.

Elsa definitely altered the people's outlook. She gave us a great awareness of animals and that there are beautiful and have a personality. They are there to be protected and not just something to shoot. In Adamsons' home video footage you can watch Joy putting her arms around Elsa, Elsa nuzzling up to her, playing or lazing in the shade.

George Adamson found Elsa in 1956 when he was a gamekeeper and had to go after a man-eating lion. It had attacked and killed villagers in Northern Kenya. During his tracking the man-eater he was charged by a lioness and had to shoot it dead. Soon he discovered her three orphaned cubs and took them home as a present for his wife.

Later on they sent the more aggressive cubs to a zoo but the weakest they kept and called it Elsa. It started a love affair which never ended. Apparently Joy had three miscarriages and longed desperately for children. She gave every ounce of love to Elsa. Because the Adamsons loved her so much they realized that she would never have a full life of a lioness unless they released her back into the wild.

They were determined that Elsa would not go to a zoo and therefore made every effort to train her that she could survive in the wild. They were aware that it was no easy task and George wrote in his diary that it was heart-breaking to leave Elsa in the bush. It was like leaving you child. The heart-break did not improve because when they went back Elsa was overjoyed to see them again.

When they went back after a period of six weeks they spotted her near the river. When they called her they noticed that she was a mother of three cubs. George said later. "That this was the greatest sight of our life."

This great achievement made Joy to write about Elsa in 1960. A year later Elsa returned to her adopted parents and must have known that she was dying. By that time Elsa already changed the opinion of millions of people about wild animals.

The BBC made a documentary to celebrate Elsa 50th anniversary. The documentary emphasized that conservation work is more important than ever. Today there are only about 2,000 lions left in Kenya which is a 90 per cent drop from the time when Elsa lived and died. There are only 30,000 left in the world.

The documentary also points out not to get fond of wild animals and trying to keep them as pets. When they filmed 'BornFree' they didn't want to use circus lions and used wild ones. However, during filming one knocked McKenna down and chattered her ankle. Another one held her in a very dangerous clinch until George - the film's chief adviser - helped. As lovely, cute and cuddly they look, they are wild animals.

However, re-introducing hand reared lions into the wild was not always successful. George released three of the lions used in the filming with the hope of getting them back into the wild. In March one of the lions attacked a game wardens' son and later killed one of George's own assistants.

After all their hard work and in spite of their dedication of George and Joy, their lives came to violent ends. It was at the hand of men and of their fiercely protection of the animals they loved so much. In 1980 Joy was shot dead by a former assistant she had fired. In 1989 George was killed by poachers. He asked to be buried in the same grave as of his lion Boy. When Joy was killed before him, George scattered the ashes over the grave of her beloved Elsa.

                                                                  ELSA'S  GRAVE