Love

I saw this story on the news that was very touching.

The story is about how two men, Ace Bourke and John Rendall, decide to by a baby lion. They got the lion at a department store. They raised Christian, the lion, in the apartment in England. They raised him like he was another pet or child. When Christian got to be too big to live in their apartment, the two men decided to release him into the wild. But, first they had him trained so that he could survive in the wild. After one year of Christian being in the wild, Ace and John, wanted to be reunited with him. As the two men stand waiting for Christian, he arrives and at first is slow to respond. As soon as he knew who the two men were, he immediately went up and hugged them. Imagine having a 500 pound lion come running at you and them hug you. I would be terrified. It was like Christina hadn't been apart from Ace and John. He acted as if he was still living with them. I thought that this story was very touching. It is amazing to see that some bonds, although they might be strange, can last for so long. Most people who don't see someone for a year or so, never speak to the person again, so it was interesting to see that a wild beast and two men could keep that bond. Some bonds can never be broken and this story shows exactly that. I think that it would have been hard to release Christian into the wild because he was like a family member. It was obviously for the best and it worked out, but I could never imagine doing that. Christian hasn't been seen since the reunion, but many think that he migrated to where the game was easier to come by and Christian was he biggest lion that many had ever seen, so if a poacher had killed him, we would have heard him bragging. This is a heart warming story and it is nice to know that some relationships never end.

Celizic, Mike. "Christian the lion's owners recall final farewell." Today Show (2009)