A Lion Called Christian: The True Story of the Remarkable Bond Between Two Friends and a Lion by Anthony Bourke; John Rendall; George Adamson

Author:Anthony Bourke; John Rendall; George Adamson
Format: mobi
Tags: Wildlife, Ecology, Animals, Nature, Animals - General, Mammals, Personal Memoirs, General, Animals - Mammals, Lion, Lions, Pets, Biography & Autobiography, Essays, Human-animal relationships, Biography, Biography And Autobiography
ISBN: 9780767932301
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2009-03-10T04:00:00+00:00

We had to prepare Christian for his journey to Kenya, as the long flight to Nairobi would be an ordeal. He was to fly with East African Airways, and regulations required him to travel by crate in the pressurized hold. It was an eleven-hour flight, but because Christian would be put in his crate at Leith Hill, he faced at least fifteen hours of confinement. When Bill was making arrangements with the airline company, a representative said: "There seems to be a mistake, Mr. Travers. Surely you don't intend flying a lion from England to Africa--that's just taking coals to Newcastle."

We investigated the whole question of Christian's flight very thoroughly, and telephoned several animal dealers and zoos for information about the best methods of safely transporting animals. Our research revealed that there was no agreement or even any particular interest in the transportation of exotic animals. We would like to believe that today animal transportation is a much more sensitive and sophisticated operation, but while great care is taken with some animals, most livestock are still transported around the world with little regard for their well-being. There is, for example, ongoing criticism of the conditions under which Australian sheep are shipped to the Middle East. Some of the people we spoke to suggested a small crate to make it impossible for the animal to turn around; the less room, the less scope the animal would have to move and injure himself. We spoke to Oliver Graham-Jones, who had been senior vet at the London Zoo, and was well known at the time for the publicized attempts at insemination of Chi-Chi the panda, who had to be transported from London to Moscow and back. He advised that Christian should be mildly tranquilized by adding a sedative to his food, and that this would safely minimize any frustration. Christian would probably sleep for most of the journey. We decided to order a crate large enough for him to sit upright and turn around in, with bars on one end and a sliding panel at the other. We specifically requested that there be no rough surfaces or sharp edges on which he could injure himself.

When the crate was delivered, we put it in his compound for Christian to become familiar with it. He was fed in it, and we shut his caravan at night to encourage him to sleep in it. Each day we shut him in for short periods so that the actual journey would be less of a shock.

East African Airways quoted a charge at the time of PS2 per pound for flying Christian to Kenya, so we had to weigh him. We borrowed some scales from the even more mystified butcher and tied them to a rope hanging from a tree. We put an empty sack under Christian's stomach, lifted him up, and slipped both ends of the sack onto the hook at the bottom of the scales. He dangled helplessly but good-naturedly. It had been an effort for Bill and us to lift him, and we were not surprised when we saw that he weighed 160 pounds.

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