She lived with ferocious wild lions all her life, but eventually died at the hands of humans

Today, we want to share the story of an incredible woman, Joy “Joy” Adamson, who raised and released a lion cub into the wild, the first lioness in the world to be successfully reintroduced and bred.

Joy Adamson and her little lion Elsa. Her original name was Friederike Victoria, Joy was the nickname her second husband gave her, and Adamson was the last name of her third husband | Born Free

We are her "lion pack"

Joy Adamson was born in 1910. She grew up in Vienna and had a degree in music. She also studied sculpture and medicine. In 1937, she went to Kenya, then a British colony, to escape World War II and fell in love with Africa and stayed there.

In 1944, she met George Adamson on a safari and married him. George was a senior inspector of the East African Wildlife Conservation Department. His daily work was to prevent poaching and prevent wild animals from harassing nearby residents.

One day, George was attacked by a lioness while on patrol. In order to protect himself, he shot and killed the lioness, but found that the lioness had plenty of milk. George then realized that the lioness's attack might just be to protect her cubs. Sure enough, he found three lion cubs, only two or three days old, in the cracks of the rocks and took them home .

Joey and his three seven-week-old lion cubs | Born Free

In this way, the little lions became the new members of the family. Joey fed them with milk mixed with cod liver oil, glucose, bone meal and salt. The eldest and second were stronger and were named "Big One" and "Lustica"; the youngest lion was named "Elsa", the weakest but the most adventurous.

As the little lions grew up, they started to play games that were unique to cats. They dragged the moisture-proof cloth around as if it were prey; they stalked Joy and pounced on her from behind, but Joy pretended not to see them, letting the little lions succeed and making them happy; they also loved to climb banana trees, but they often climbed too high and dared not come down, waiting for Joy to rescue them.

The little lion tries to open the door | Born Free

But Joy realized that they couldn't take care of three lions that were growing up so fast. When the cubs were 6 months old, she sent the first and second cubs to a zoo in the Netherlands, leaving Elsa behind - because she was the youngest child and was most likely to be abandoned by her mother in the wild, Joy loved her the most, and Elsa was the most dependent on Joy.

Elsa, who stayed behind, became the closest family member of the Joeys. Every night, Elsa would sleep with Joey's neck in her arms, and go hunting with George during the day. Joey would not leave Elsa behind even when he went on a long journey, and allowed her to lie on the roof of his favorite off-road vehicle - but the roof of the vehicle was obviously not designed for lions, so the Joeys specially installed a bracket to prevent the roof from being crushed by Elsa.

Elsa travels in her own car seat | Born Free

Elsa would never allow other animals or strangers to touch her food, but she was happy to let Joey take her prey. When Elsa went fishing with George, she would bring back the fish and put it on George's bed, indicating that she was sharing the prey with George. Joey later wrote in the book "Born Free": " We were her 'lion group' and she shared everything with us."

Use all the power of love to leave her

However, humans are not Elsa's lion group after all.

After Elsa went into heat, she often went out to the wild and stayed out all night. Joey thought it was time to let her return to nature . But she faced two problems: First, could Elsa, who grew up with humans, integrate into the lion group in the wild? Second, could Elsa, who ate the minced meat she prepared every day, hunt animals to feed herself in the wild?

Elsa loves the sea and is close to humans. No one knows if she can return to the wild | Born Free

Joey decided to try to help Elsa make friends first.

During a safari, Joey saw a young male lion and encouraged Elsa to go up and talk to him, hoping that the "blind date" would be successful . Elsa made a low purring sound, but she was completely afraid to get off the roof of the car. So Joey and her husband dragged some prey and wanted Elsa to share it with the male lion as a gift, so that the male lion would have a good impression of her. They also secretly avoided the lions and left them alone.

Unfortunately, when they returned, there was no male lion and no prey there, only Elsa who was waiting for them heartbrokenly - in Elsa's eyes, the Joeys were her closest companions.

Elsa and Joey share a bed | Born Free

Could Elsa hunt and feed herself? Joey tried to leave Elsa in the wild for two days, hoping that hunger would stimulate her predatory instinct, but several attempts failed.

Every time Joey and his wife went to pick up Elsa, they could only see the little lion standing there hungry. As soon as Elsa arrived, she jumped into the car and acted like a spoiled child, eating the food brought by humans and sucking Joey's thumb to make sure they were all right. Elsa seemed to have never realized that she was deliberately "abandoned" in the wild , which made Joey so distressed that he almost gave up his plan to go to the wild.

Elsa sucks Joey's thumb when she's nervous | Born Free

Joey had to teach Elsa how to hunt. They encouraged Elsa to track and attack the prey, and then killed the prey with a gun at the right time, leaving Elsa and the prey in the wild. This was to let Elsa learn to protect the prey - from vultures during the day, from hyenas at night, and from other lions taking advantage of the situation. For lions in the wild, this skill is as important as hunting.

Every time Joy left Elsa in the wild to "force" her to grow up, it was a heart-wrenching experience. Like a mother who was worried about her child, she couldn't sleep well all night, worried that Elsa would be hungry, or that she would be attacked by cattle, elephants, or even other lions.

When Elsa was a child, she dragged a moisture-proof sheet. When she grew up, she dragged her prey in the same way｜"Born Free"

Fortunately, all these training paid off. Elsa learned to hunt and became more and more adapted to life in the wild . Finally, the moment of separation came. On that day, Elsa jumped on the roof of the off-road vehicle as usual, thinking it was an ordinary wild trip. Looking at Elsa who was unaware, Joey wrote:

Elsa is part of this place. She belongs to nature, not to humans. We are "humans" and we love her, and she has learned to love us. Will she forget everything she knew before this morning? Will she hunt when she's hungry? Or will she wait for us to come back, trusting us, because we've never let her down so far?

I kissed her, to assure her of my love, to make her feel safe, but was it a kiss of betrayal? How did she know that now I was going to use all my loving strength to leave her and let her go back to nature - to let her learn to live alone until she found her own pride - her true pride?

First lioness successfully released into the wild

After several months of gradual rewilding, Elsa finally lived the life of a wild lioness in nature.

In between his busy work schedule, Joey would visit Elsa in the wild every three weeks. Each time they saw a fat and healthy lion, who was obviously doing well in the wild and no longer dependent on humans. George wrote: " She was a wild lion in every way. "

The only difference from wild lions is that Elsa still has a warm affection for Joey and his wife . When she hears the signal flares they fire, she will rush to the camp to meet them within a few hours, rub against Joey's knees with meows, retract her sharp claws, and then use her 130-kilogram body to push Joey to the ground and play with her in a friendly manner. After a short meeting, Elsa will return to the wild and continue her free life.

Elsa and Joey｜Born Free

Elsa did not integrate into a specific lion group, but found a mate in the wild - a young male lion. Elsa gave birth to three children, named Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa by Joey. When Elsa was taking care of the children, Joey and his wife tried not to get too close and only took pictures of them from a distance. In this way, Elsa became the first lioness raised by humans and successfully released into the wild , and the first lion to give birth to cubs after being released .

Elsa's return to the wild is a major milestone for animal protection around the world. Before this, people believed that animals domesticated by humans could not learn to hunt, nor be accepted by their own species in the wild, so they could only live in zoos for the rest of their lives. However, Elsa's experience made it possible for rare wild animals to be artificially bred and released into the wild . This practice has begun to be implemented around the world and is now quite common.

Elsa with her three children Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa | fatheroflions

Sadly, Elsa died of Babesiosis in 1961 at the age of 5. After burying her, George fired 20 shots at her tombstone, hoping that Elsa's partner would hear the gunshots and not get close.

After Elsa died, her cubs began to attack the livestock of nearby farmers. Fearing that they would be killed, the Joys sent them to Serengeti National Park. Eventually, they lost contact with the cubs.

Elsa's child Jespah, who is the most friendly and trusting of humans, will ride in the SUV like his mother, but he is likely to be killed by humans in the end | fatheroflions

Animals are born free

Raising Elsa and releasing her into the wild is just the beginning of Joey's animal protection work.

After Elsa lived alone, Joy began to write her and Elsa's story. Her first book, Born Free, caused a global sensation and was translated into 35 languages. The story was also made into many movies and TV series, among which the movie of the same name, Born Free, won an Oscar.

The story of Joey and Elsa was written into three books: Born Free, Living Free, and Forever Free. The Chinese version of Born Free was published.

Anthropologist Desmond Morris believes that Joy's book influenced an entire generation's attitudes toward animals .

Joy used the income from her books to fund the establishment of animal sanctuaries and funded several animal protection organizations. She is also the founder of the World Wildlife Fund and the Elsa Wild Animal Appeal. Influenced by her, Virginia McKenna, the star of the TV series of the same name, and her husband Bill Travers established the Born Free Foundation and dedicated their lives to animal protection.

From left to right: Virginia McKenna, George Adamson, Bill Travers, Joey Adamson; Virginia and Bill played Joey and George in the TV series | fatheroflions

Despite her international fame, Joy chose to stay in Africa to continue her wildlife conservation work in the most difficult environments.

Thanks to her efforts, dozens of lions that were originally going to be sent to zoos were able to live in the wild. Her animal release experiment is still continuing - she adopted Pippa, a cheetah that was originally raised as a pet, raised her and successfully released her into the wild, once again proving that animals raised in captivity can also adapt to life in the wild. Her story with Pippa was also written into a book, which once again shocked the world.

Joey and Piba the Cheetah | Safari center

On January 3, 1980, assistants found Joy's body in the reserve . Joy was going to celebrate her 70th birthday in half a month. At first, people thought Joy was killed by a lion, but the police autopsy found that the wounds on her body were sharp and there was no blood - this was not caused by an animal, but more likely by a sharp weapon.

The killer who was eventually caught was a former employee of Joy, who killed her out of personal vendetta. The killer was a minor at the time of the crime, so he escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to life imprisonment in Nairobi Prison.

Joy Adamson / The National Museums Kenya

According to Joey's will, her ashes were divided into two halves, one half was scattered in Elsa's grave and the other half was scattered in Pippa's grave, so she would be with them forever. Ironically, the Joeys spent their lives with seemingly dangerous wild animals, but eventually died at the hands of humans - in 1989, George was killed by poachers while rescuing a tourist who was attacked by poachers.

Although her life ended suddenly, the books Joy wrote and the organization she founded continue her philosophy, returning tens of thousands of animals to their true homes every year. From the 1960s to today, countless animal protection workers who are committed to opposing animal performances and returning animals to their habitats firmly believe in this sentence:

Animals are born free.

Elsa's Tomb｜fatheroflions

References

[1] Born Free: The Legend of Elsa the Lioness, author: Joy Adamson; translated by Zhang Xuelan.

[2]https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Joy_Adamson

[3]https://www.safari-center.com/life-of-joy-adamson-in-kenya/

[4]https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/22/world/george-adamson-lions-protector-is-shot-dead-by-bandits-in-kenya.html

[5]https://www.fatheroflions.org/ElsasCubs_JespahGopaLittleElsa.html

[6]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Adamson

Author: Cat Tun

Editor: Mai Mai

Cover image source: Born Free

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