Posted by admin

Those of you who read our ‘about us’ section might have seen our quote ‘Love is God’s favorite emotion’, well now you can add this ‘Love is universal emotion’ understood by humans and non-humans alike.  We can relate this with the love we share with our pets but the story here is about an unusual pet, it’s name is Christian, a lion.

Christian the Lion (copyright:Discovery/Animal Planet)

Christian became an instant internet star when the reunion video was made available on the net, this heart warming story of friendship & love between two men and the lion started over 40 years ago in 1969 in Australia when John Rendall and Anthony ‘Ace’ Bourke got a cute cub as their pet.  John and Anthony together with their friends cared Christian, soon Christian became part of their lives.  Within a year the growing size and increasing costs meant that Christian cannot be kept with them anymore. With the help of Adamson they were able to move Christian to Kora National Reserve in Kenya.  Christian was introduced to an older Lion and a female cub where it would spend at least a year and would then be released into the wild. Events that followed left Christian alone in its pride and was let into wild where it formed its own pride.

John and Anthony were missing Christian. They were informed by Adamson that Christian has been reintroduced to the wild, they decided to go to Kenya to see their friend in the wild. Having studied Lions, Adamson cautioned John and Anthony that Christian may not remember them, which would mean that it may take them for strangers and could lead to unfavorable consequences. However, when Christian approached them, it’s reaction was something no one would have ever expected of an animal, especially of a Lion.  I think that this is something that words will fall shallow to describe and for that reason we have included the video here, see and experience the joy of love yourself:

How did you feel after watching the video?  For me this was one of the amazing real life videos on love ever.  When I first watched this video I got goosebumps out of joy and ecstacy, I immediately shared it with everyone I knew. What is even more amazing is that the female lions and the foster cub also welcomed the apparent strangers.  They were able to sense the love Christian had for the two men and as if they were showing the warmth they felt for these two men.  Love is not only universal it can be contagious too.

This reunion video clearly demonstrates that love is universally felt by human and non-human alike.  It does not matter if we love another human or a pet or for that matter even trees/plants, that feeling in itself is a bliss.  Accordingly Lester Levenson ‘Happiness equates one’s loving’. 

There are two kinds of love, one that is driven by needs, approval and confirmity, in reality this is NOT love, it is just an arrangment or simply agreement.  This is the one that is promoted in the movies and the media. Real love is selfless, where you give in completely without a need to be reciprocated, without being needy or expecting approval.  The great thing about pets is that we exercise this form of love with them.  Think about the moments we spend with our pets – we are not needy, we do not seek their approval, there is only genuine heart warming LOVE that exists.  Few lucky people get to experience this kind of love with other human beings, whether for a short period of time or for a lifetime.  People who have experienced this form of love are the most blessed, luckiest and wealthiest in true sense. John and Anthony are among them.