Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds

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Fearful for her future, Virginia and Bill launched a campaign to give Pole Pole a better life and even found a reserve in southern Africa willing to take her. But in 1983, aged just 16, she died, euthanised following an unsuccessful attempt by the zoo authorities to move her to Whipsnade Zoo Park where she would have had elephants for company. We opened our new Ensessa Kotteh Wildlife Rescue, Conservation & Education centre in Ethiopia to provide a home for a range of rescued animals and an education facility for local communities. A year later, the Adamsons return to Kenya and are given a week to find Elsa. They are overjoyed to see that Elsa has succeeded as a wild lion and is now the mother of three cubs. However, Joy and George both agree that they will not interact with the cubs, allowing them to survive as wild lions. Learning about the plight of wild animals during the making of the film was a life-changing experience for Virginia and Bill, who went on to make a number of wildlife films and documentaries together, including An Elephant Called Slowly with a young wild-caught elephant calf called Pole Pole. After filming, Pole Pole was gifted to London Zoo by the Kenyan government despite Virginia and Bill’s protests. Years later, Virginia and Bill went to the zoo to visit Pole Pole. Seeing her distress, they launched a campaign for her release, but Pole Pole died in 1983, aged just 16. We helped develop a significant chimpanzee sanctuary and education centre on Ngamba Island, Uganda, amid 100 acres of rainforest, where orphan chimps live in a community.

We sponsored Mali Elephant Project in West Africa, protecting one of only two populations of rare desert elephants.

Success!

We began long-term support of the Last Great Ape Organisation in Cameroon as they helped capture and prosecute dealers in rare wildlife, especially apes and elephants.

Christian the lion’s story has captivated millions of people worldwide thanks to footage filmed as part of Christian the Lion at World’s End, and has gone on to be a viral YouTube phenomenon. A documentary follow-up to Born Free, entitled The Lions Are Free, was released in 1969. The film follows Born Free-actor Bill Travers as he journeys to a remote area in Kenya to visit George Adamson, and several of Adamson's lion friends. She grew up on an estate near Vienna, was educated in Vienna earning a music degree before studying sculpting and medicine. As a young adult, Adamson considered careers as a concert pianist, and in medicine. [ citation needed]National Board of Review of Motion Pictures:: Awards". Nbrmp.org. Archived from the original on 18 December 2011 . Retrieved 8 August 2011. Born to Victor and Traute Gessner in Troppau, Silesia, Austria-Hungary (now Opava, Czech Republic) and was the 2nd of 3 girls. Her father was a wealthy architect. After the divorce of her parents, Joy went to live with her grandmother. In her autobiography The Searching Spirit, Adamson wrote about her grandmother, saying, "It is to her I owe anything that may be good in me." Born Free Kenya was established to support projects including elephant studies, anti-poaching patrols, snare removal, lion conflict resolution, bushmeat awareness, legislative reform, community work and support for schools.

Lastly, it was all together hard for me to forget the fact that the story is based on a mistake that they failed to correct - shooting Elsa's mother. She failed to let go of Elsa once she was independent, and repeated the same mistake with the cubs. Born Free Lion Rescue tells the true stories of Bella and Simba, two lions who the charity rescued from appalling lives in captivity.Vasagar, Jeevan (8 February 2004). "Interview with Paul Nakware Ekai". The Guardian. London, England . Retrieved 20 September 2014.

Living in South Africa, I have always been awed by the nature of wild animals. Although I am not the biggest fan of non-fiction, books about animals always fascinate me. The 39th Academy Awards (1967) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 10 November 2014 . Retrieved 4 September 2011.

BORN FREE’S PRIDE HAVE A NEW HOME!

We started to support the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya, to study the behaviour and social dynamics of savannah elephants. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed on 10 December 1948. It was compiled after World War II to declare and protect the rights of all people from all countries.