George and Joy Adamson are forever linked in my mind for the work they did with animals. I first became aware of them with the book written by Joy - Born Free. It was later made into a movie.
I have always had a love of animals and in particular lions. (I was pleased when I found out that the Underwood family motto was Noli Irritare Leonem) I collected lions at one time and still have a great many of them around the house. The work that they did with lions and other animals inspired me and make them worthy of a Sunday Salute.
Joy Adamson (20 January 1910 – 3 January 1980) (born Friederike Victoria Gessner) was a naturalist, artist, and author of the book, Born Free, which describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa.Born Free was printed in several languages, and made into an Academy Award-winning movie of the same name.
George Adamson (3 February 1906 – 20 August 1989), also known as the Baba ya Simba (“Father of Lions” in Swahili), was a British wildlife conservationist and author. He and his wife,Joy Adamson, are best known through the movie Born Free and best-selling book with the same title, which is based on the true story of Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lioness cub they had raised and later released into the wild. Several other films have been made based on Adamson’s life.
George lived in a remote area of Kenya, East Africa.
He was 'gentleman', who was courageous, caring, and no person that has ever lived knows Lions on a more personal, intimate basis than this remarkable man.
You can read the Wikipedia articles about their lives and deaths here. George and Joy. And you can learn more about them from the words and pictures posted on the "Father of Lions" Web Site,
"Who will now care for the animals, for they cannot look after themselves? Are there young men and women who are willing to take on this charge? Who will raise their voices, when mine is carried away on the wind, to plead their case?"
"I really have no patience with people who maintain that an animal's life and actions are governed by pure instinct and conditioned reflexes. Nothing except reasoning powers can explain the careful strategy used by a pride of lions in hunting, and the many examples we have had from Elsa of intelligent and thought out behaviour." George Adamson
Since we humans have the better brain, isn't it our responsibility to protect our fellow creatures from, oddly enough, ourselves? Joy Adamson
Later in his life George helped with the rehabilitation of Christian, the lion. Video here.
Previous Salutes
George and Joy Adamson Maya Angelou |
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