07/31/2008
Christian the Lion's Owners Tell Their Story
In June I posted the tearjerker clip of John Rendall and Ace Bourke returning to the wild for a reunion with Christian, a lion they had raised for years and then released. The clip has become a YouTube sensation, with millions of views. Anyway, Rendall and Bourke (does anyone know if they are a gay couple, because that's what I've heard but haven't been able to confirm) appeared this week on the Today show and Meredith Vieira talked to them about their story.
Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...
Here's a description of a film on Christian which describes "two very gay young men" and mysterious sexual overtones. This Mail Online article from 2007 is more background on the story...
Posted 6:05 PM EST by Andy Towle in Nature, News, YouTube | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I doubt that they are. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_the_lion
The pertinent information: "Rendall, Bourke and their girlfriends Jennifer Mary and Unity Jones cared for the lion until it was a year old."
Posted by: Jonathan | Jul 31, 2008 6:13:32 PM
Hmm... gay or English?
Posted by: Giovanni | Jul 31, 2008 7:34:26 PM
Hmmm, girlfriends or girl friends? I suspected they were gay because on the Today Show piece they said they owned a trendy furniture shop in a trendy area of London when they bought Christian. And in their interview on the Today Show, both are still very natty dressers. Now, I don't want to stereotype, but I thought they were gay. But, there's always room for error.
Posted by: EricLA | Jul 31, 2008 7:43:28 PM
"Homosexuals Maul Christian Lion!"
Posted by: JohnInManhattan | Jul 31, 2008 8:13:05 PM
Gay Gay Gay! Even Christina was Gay! The lion is so Gay! They were in a 2-way relationship! Christina was too got to big...(if you know what I mean) and moved to Africa. He always remember the wonderful time he had with his two lovers!
Posted by: Eric | Jul 31, 2008 8:53:11 PM
I haven't read the book or seen the movie, "Christian the Lion," but it appears from this movie review that Rendall and Bourke might be gay...girl friends or not. http://www.kiddiematinee.com/c-christian.html
BTW... the Christian blogs are worrying about this question...seems they are concerned about the sexual orientation of these two men.
Posted by: joeinsf | Jul 31, 2008 9:48:07 PM
Hi Andy:
John Rendall is very straight and dresses well like a lot of Brits. Lots of bright young (straight) Brits owned and operated trendy furniture stores in Chelsea (London) back in the "Swinging Sixties", which is when Christian was acquired.
I used to spend a lot of time with George Adamson (Born Free; Elsa the Lioness etc) and his assistant Tony Fitzjohn at the lion camp they operated at Kora - in the middle of nowhere (nearest human being, black or white, at least 40 miles away) on the banks of the Tana River about 200 miles north east of Nairobi. They used to take in lions from zoos all over Europe (at that time there was a surfeit of lions in captivity) and returned them to the wild. The clip that is on YouTube was shot at Kora and the older guy, visible in the last 15 seconds is George Adamson who actually returned Christian to the wild. In the 1990s George was murdered at Kora by dissident Somali tribesmen who were trying to overrun the game preserve that George had fought to maintain for many years.
His assistant, Tony Fitzjohn, now runs a leopard preserve in northern Tanzania and John Rendall is a principal fund-raiser for the foundation that helps maintain it. I saw John last year in London and I can assure Towleroad readers that he doesn't have a gay bone in his body - although he couldn't give a shit if you or I do.
I can honestly say that the weeks and months I spent "playing" with lions at Kora were some of the happiest and most memorable of my life. Back then, though, was a very different time and place in Kenya's history and, to be honest, the "white man's" relationship to it.
Posted by: Michael Lyall | Jul 31, 2008 10:49:21 PM
Animals can be such loving and wonderful creatures. This video reminds me of another I saw recently on a special about a woman who rescued and raised a bunch of (I think) chimpanzees. She returned to the island where they habitated 10 years later and they immediately ran-up to her and showed they not only remembered her, but loved her dearly. It was truly as touching as this video of Christian.
Posted by: Dr. Christopher Blackwell | Jul 31, 2008 11:04:31 PM
That's cool that these boys are straight...metrosexuals before their time! Sounds like they have always been trendsetters.
Posted by: joeinsf | Jul 31, 2008 11:14:11 PM
What on earth does it matter if they are gay or not? Why does everything ALWAYS have to come down to sexuality? I thought the story was about the wonderful reuniting of the guys with the lion?
I had no idea that lions had that kind of memory. I have to admit I would have been a little scared to see a full-grown lion running at me, even if it had loving intentions. They can still kill you (will kindness) and not mean to. It was a very heartwarming video though.
Posted by: Chad | Aug 1, 2008 12:10:37 AM
I agree with Chad. Their sexuality is irrelevant. Let's not reduce such an amazing story to such low-level conjecture.
Posted by: Jay | Aug 1, 2008 5:47:13 AM
How unfortunate for you, Jay, that a simple question about whether these two happen to be like us is, to you, "low-level conjecture".
Posted by: Miles | Aug 1, 2008 7:16:48 AM
I agree with CHAD and JAY! It's disgusting to accuse these wonderful men of being homosexuals when it's obvious they love big pussy. LEAVE THEM ALONE! Boo hoo...
(meow)
Posted by: JohnInManhattan | Aug 1, 2008 7:19:41 AM
Wondering about their sexuality seems like a perfectly valid curiosity. And I don't believe anyone's "reducing it" to that here.
Posted by: dan | Aug 1, 2008 8:08:02 AM
No they're not!
Brits or English that is.
They're Australians who lived in Chelsea...
Posted by: GawdblessyerMaryPoppinz! | Aug 1, 2008 8:56:48 AM
You cynical queens. I just found it incredibly touching. Silly me.
Posted by: joejoe | Aug 1, 2008 11:15:44 AM
It's a great clip and a touching story and all that happy horse shit and I'm inclined to cut them some slack since it was nearly 50 years ago BUT... affluent fops, brit, gay, or otherwise "adopting" make that owning a wild animal is abhorrent. The fact the animal bonded to them and was excited to see them after many years is simple proof of how unfair this kind of treatment is to wild animals. I'm sure these guys enjoyed a lot of lucrative PR by dragging their exotic possession around London. Did they sell the eleephant's foot umbrella stand and gorilla's hand ash tray, and the zebra skin rug? Groovy man.
Posted by: Rikard | Aug 1, 2008 11:46:46 AM
It's a wonderful story, and a worthwhile cause...who cares if they're gay or not. Thank god Harrods doesn't sell animals anymore. Maybe they should be sponsors for the wildlife endeavors that are sorely needing money...Seems only fair.
Posted by: DesertViking | Aug 1, 2008 2:11:27 PM
Are they gay... or Europeeeean?
(sorry... I had to... ;P )
Posted by: Brooks | Aug 1, 2008 2:23:02 PM
Rikard, it states very clearly that at the time there was no such thing as animal rights groups, that they bought the lion because it was suffering in too small a cage at Harrod's (which at the told sold exotic animals, most of which undoubtedly fared far less well), that they and their girlfriends devoted their time to caring for it, that they spent a great deal of effort (and certainly money) to get it back to Africa after a year with it, and that they have both continued to be extremely active in animal conservation efforts.
Maybe give them a break? A lot of things have changed in 40 years, in this case for the better. Would you be happier if Harrod's had just killed the cub?
Posted by: Paul R | Aug 1, 2008 6:40:23 PM
The film is color, but has no sound. Subtitles have been addded to tell the story, but they’re hardly needed. There are two men in flared jeans and shaggy hair, and there is a lion. The huge carnivore approaches from a distance, slowly at first. Then recognition sets in, and soon everyone — men and beast — are hugging and crying. Also in the original film are two lionesses named Mona and Lisa. They had been trapped elsewhere in Africa and given to Adamson to rehabilitate. Unlike Christian, Mona and Lisa had never set eyes on Bourke and Rendall before, but they came over to meet the two men anyway. If Christian vouched for them, these humans were apparently OK guys.
=====================
mikemathew
California Dui
Posted by: mikemathew | Sep 17, 2008 12:04:41 AM