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The Born Free Foundation
The Born Free Foundation is a dynamic international wildlife charity, devoted to compassionate conservation and animal welfare.
The charity has a unique and very special history.
In 1964, Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna travelled to Kenya to star in the classic wildlife film ‘Born Free’, based on the best-selling book by Joy Adamson.
The film told the true story of George and Joy Adamson’s fight to return Elsa the lioness to the wild.
The Adamson’s story was enjoyed by tens of millions around the globe, inspiring a generation, and changing the world’s attitude to lions forever.
Making Born Free profoundly affected Bill and Virginia. Working with George and Joy influenced the rest of their lives. Their close contact with the lions sparked a lifelong commitment to wildlife and they realised wild animals belong in the wild, not incarcerated in captivity.
The Born Free Foundation is determined to bring about positive change for wild animals. But their work to protect threatened species in the wild, stop captive suffering and rescue individual animals in desperate need is only possible if they can raise sufficient funds.
Since the beginning, Born Free has been supported by a wide range of celebrities including Joanna Lumley, Martin Clunes, Rachel Hunter, Jenny Seagrove, Amanda Holden and Helen Worth. These high-profile patrons help them reach out to the general public, the media and corporate sponsors, who actively support and fund projects and campaigns, helping hundreds of thousands of animals worldwide.
Christian’s story
In 1969 a young Australian, John Rendall and his friend Ace Bourke, bought a small lion cub from Harrods pet department, which was then legal. ‘Christian’ was kept in the basement of a furniture shop on the Kings Road in Chelsea, the heart of the swinging sixties. Loved by all, the affectionate cub ate in a local restaurant, played in a nearby graveyard, but was growing fast…
A chance encounter with Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna led to a new life for Christian. He came to live in an enclosure and slept in a caravan at their Surrey home. Then in 1971 he was flown to Kenya, his ancestral home, and returned to the wild by lion-man George Adamson. Almost a year later in 1972, John and Ace returned to Kora in Kenya and it is their reunion with Christian at this time that is shown in the clip. (Click here to see).
It was an emotional reunion: “He ran towards us, threw himself onto us, knocked us over and hugged us, with his paws on our shoulders.”
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