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Christian the Lion: The Full Story in Pictures

You've seen the sensational video. Now, Born Free Foundation co-founder Virginia McKenna shares the story behind the footage.
George Adamson
Photo: © Virginia McKenna/bornfree.org.uk
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George Adamson in Kora
"Kora is amazing. Kora is very wild. George's camp there is being restored, and it is the hope that, one day, people will be able to visit and see where George lived and where he is buried; Boy [a lion he worked with], George's brother Terrance and George himself are buried there. You can visit their graves, which I have done more than once. It is a very moving place because you are just in the middle of nowhere, and you can feel the history of George's life there. It is a privilege to go; it really is.

"Ever since doing the film, I'd made up my mind that we had to do something for animals. In 1984, we started a little charity that was called Zoo Check [eventually becoming the Born Free Foundation] because in those days we were really concentrating on looking into the problems for captive animals. It has given me a sort of second life because I loved being an actress when I was, but now, all I want to do, really, is work for wildlife. Giving an animal that has had a horrible life a bit of a second chance is something very special for me. And isn't it exciting that, at my age, I can still do these things and be a part of it?"
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Published 10/25/2011
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