THIS HERD IS FOR LIONS AND LIONESSES ONLY.This will be a large group of lions that will act together as a family often for protection against predators.
IF YOUD LIKE TO JOIN THE LONDON LIONS THEN SEND US A REQUEST. I AM THIS HERDS LEADER MY NAMES ELSA. NAME SOUND FAMILAR? WELL I WAS NAMED AFTER ELSA THE LION WHICH HAPPENS TO BE A TRUE STORY OF A LION. HERE ELSAs STORY
Elsa is a lioness that was raised by Joy Adamson, and was brought back into the African wilderness.
The Adamsons got Elsa when George (Joy's husband) had to shoot a wild lioness that attacked him. She had 3 female cubs. The Adamsons kept Elsa and sent the others to a zoo. When Elsa was 3, they decided to teach her to live wild. She gave birth to three cubs: Jespah, Gopa (male) and Little Elsa (female). Elsa died in January 24th 1961. Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa were taken to the Serengeti Nationalpark (Tanganijka, now Tanzania) and surely their descendants still live there and are hopefully forever free ...
The Adamson's have gone forever: Joy was killed on January 3, 1980 (a former employee of Joy murdered her) and George was shot by poachers on August 20, 1989.
Joy Adamson wrote three books about Elsa:
Born Free
The Adamsons first tried to release Elsa in the Masai-Mara reserve in southern Kenya (mid-1958), but she became ill from the climate change there. After she had recovered they took her to the Meru reserve (at the time it wasn't a National-park yet) and released her. They stayed away for a week; upon returning they found her able to fend for herself--she killed a waterbuck while they were visiting. George visited Elsa in her new home periodically from late 1958 to 1959, and was worried that she never seemed to be interested in other lions. Although there were male lions in the area, she didn't seem too friendly with them. Finally, he saw her with a male lion, and from then on he knew she could take care of herself and live with other lions. Joy came to visit her a few times ... .
Then Born Free ends with a publisher's note saying that he'd received a telegram reading: Cubs born 20th--Adamson.
Living Free
George saw Elsa and her mate courting in September, which meant the cubs would be born in December. Elsa disappeared on Dec. 19th and stayed away until Christmas. Joy tried to follow her back to her den several times, but Elsa kept tricking her into going the wrong way. On February 2nd, 1960, Joy was sitting in her tent writing when one of the Africans, Makedde, came and told her that Elsa was standing on the river bank making a strange noise. Joy followed him--Elsa and 3 small cubs were there, about to cross. There were 2 males (later named "Jespah" and "Gopa") and a female ("Little Elsa"). Elsa tried to get the cubs to play with Joy, but Joy didn't want to tame them and the cubs were too shy. Jespah finally, after many months, was friendly with humans, but the other cubs were always more wild. In the meantime, poachers were threatening the area wildlife and a rival lioness was trying to take over Elsa's territory. Many nights Elsa left her cubs in camp with the Adamsons (where they made a terrific mess of things--sleeping in empty beds, trashing the contents of any box they found) while she fought the other lioness. George, working as Senior game warden, was frequently capturing poachers, and eventually the local villages became angry at this--poaching was their life. In late 1960 the government asked George and Joy to either leave Meru reserve or move Elsa and the cubs to another reserve. They said that because Elsa was half-tame, she was potentially dangerous. In the summer the cubs and their mother had vanished for 2 weeks, been found several miles outside of their home area, coaxed into returning and were still harassed by the other lioness. On December 24, Joy received an order from the government to remove the lions from Meru reserve ... the book ends there.
Forever Free
After being told that the lions had to be moved, George and Joy started looking for a new home for them. While Joy was in Nair
