European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 18, 1973, Darmstadt, Hesse Covers a photos by Jim Cole safari Park All the Freedom of a barnyard Roethe s foot. An accompanying professional Hunter fired the seventh and fatal Roethe waited in a Nairobi Hospital for his wounds to heal the newspapers headlined his dra Matic ordeal pointing out that he was president of an american club called the organization of african first shooters which espouses Hunting As a prime conservation method. What really fired the ire of Many kenyans How Ever were the facts that this was Roethe s 13th lion and that Back Home he has a private museum con Taining 575 stuffed animals which i have shot my that kind of conservation letter writers an columnists said Kenya could do without. 1 Hough the letter writers typify a growing body of africans who favor traditional philosophies of conservation they Are probably not ready to embrace the kind of lion mania that has been spawned by Joy Adamson. Her Story of Elsa a lioness that today is bigger i death than it Ever was in life is certainly the most famous and perhaps the most bizarre in the annals of the lion cult. In every sense but one Elsa was the creation of Joy Adamson the austrian born wife of George Adamson a British game Warden in . Adamson wrote several books including born free living free and inevitably for Ever free about her life with Elsa and Elsa s workers in East Africa and elsewhere credit the books with Awakening a wide interest i protecting dwindling numbers of wild animals around the world. Not Long ago for example received a Check for $90 from a group of retarded children who had formed an Elsa club in alos Angeles slum. They had collected old news papers and bottles sold them and sent the proceeds to help save flamingos in Kenya s polluted Lakena Kuru. Elsa died in 1969 but still she grows and grows mrs. Adamson said in an interview at her Kenya Home which is furnished with chairs upholstered Ilion skins. Though 62 years old and arthritic mrs. Adamson says she is busier than Ever coping wit the continuing worldwide response to Elsa. Although the free books Are widely criticized As outrageous examples of anthropomorphic zing mrs. Adamson contends that she does not attribute her own emotions and thoughts to the Lions. Indeed she says it is quite the reverse for mrs. Adamso believes Lions communicate with her through men Tal telepathy Lions have this extra sense and so do some people she said. I have known this kind of thought communication with the animals wit whom i be lived she once wrote. Mrs. Adamson said she believes Elsa Speaks through her and he books. I believe she came Here to do a big Job mrs. Adamson said of the lioness whose mortal re Mains lie buried under a landscaped Cairn of rocks in Northern Kenya. Something urgent a to Bedone to save the wildlife. There is something about Lions you cannot escape their incredible personality. People say they act so human. I Only wish we could act More like Lions they re so Noble. The lion knows he s Boss some can afford not to be Petty minded. I love All Ani Mals but i Don t think any compare with the lion. It just mrs. Adamson sputtered to a Stop unable to translate the emotion that animated her face ill Tell you she resumed human beings Arete Only species that have prostitutes animals Are very selective in their partners. All the wild animals Are really pure. We have lost our purity. Elsa was clean and pure. I m told that Clark Gable when he was dying wanted Elsa s books. After a life like his he wanted something clean and what manner of lion was this whose death in1961 made the obituary columns All Over the world and whose passing prompted Nelson a. Rockefeller among thousands of others to write a letter of con Dolence to mrs. Adamson As a tiny cub Elsa became an orphan because George Adamson killed her Mother believing her Tobe a Man eater. The adar sons shipped Elsa s two litter mates to the Rotterdam zoo where mrs Adamson said they live in splendid conditions i was glad to know that almost certainly they had no recollection of a Freer life Elsa was kept As a pet around the House initially much As anyone keeps an Ordinary cat but eventually As something More than a pet. The nature of the relationship Between mrs Adamson and Elsa is Al most embarrassingly obvious in two passages from born free at these times she would suck my thumbs and Massage my thighs with her front paws As though she were kneading her Mother s belly to get More milk. It was during these hours that the Bond be tween us developed. I sat with Elsa playing with her. These evenings were our most intimate time and i believe that her love for us was mostly fostered i these hours when fed and Happy she could doze off with my thumb in her Mouth. Her saliva was Rich and very the Adamsons repeatedly stated goal was to return Elsa to a truly wild and free life the main adventures in the books Are the Adamsons continual attempts to retrieve Elsa or her cubs after they have wandered off into the Bush. Long after mrs. Adamson wrote she had proved that she could fend for herself and was Independent of us at least so far As food was concerned the Adamson continued to kill antelopes to give Elsa. Eventually like a Central Park Pigeon Elsa became conditioned to expect a handout whenever the Adamson arrived in the Bush. The pet Lions became such a nuisance killing the cattle goats and sheep of neighbouring herdsmen that Kenya officials ordered the Adamsons to round them up and take them someplace else. Officials in Tanzania agreed to let them release the cubs Elshad since died in the Serengeti National Park. But the officials were aghast to learn that not Only had the cubs moved into the Park but the Adamsons had too and were making regular trips outside the Boundary to shoot animals to feed the Lions. Park officials knowing that a Well fed lion is not Likely to learn of kill for himself thereupon forbade feeding the cubs. Before Long the cubs adapted and wan dered off to make their own lives. Desperately Wor ried that the Young Lions could not survive without their help the Adamsons spent 19 months searching for their pets before giving up. After helping make the movie of born free George Adamson attempted to As they say rehabilitate two of the 24 tame Lions that had performed in the film. In a tract of rented land in Northern Kenya he cared for the pair called boy and girl As they shed their lameness and became increasingly wild. The Effort was proceeding Well until boy killed one of Adamson s african employees dragged the Corpse Back to Camp and began to eat it. The Experiment was apparently too successful for Adam Stathen shot boy strange As the Adamsons Story May be it at Leas makes More sense than that of another lion detainer and author Norman Carr of Zambia. Because wild Lions will often attack tame Lions in their territory Carr begins his rehabilitation process by shooting the wild Lions in the area where the tame Lions Are Tolive. While books like Joy Adamson s tree series and Carr s return to the wild do reveal something of the nature of Lions they Tell us Little about How natural free living Lions behave. That is Why Schaller s work is such a landmark after the centuries of myth and Hunters tales. One erroneous notion that it corrects for example is that Lions kill by leaping onto the animal s Back and with a swat of one mighty Paw breaking the victim s neck. Death is thought to be Swift and clean even merciful As befitting a Noble creature. The lion s method is held to be More admirable than that of hyenas or wild dogs perhaps the two most despised animals in Africa. Unlike the lion itis said Tivey kill in mobs by cruelly running Down their prey and nipping relentlessly at its flanks until fatigue and loss of blood bring the creature to an end. Jane and Hugo Van Lawick Goodall studied wild dogs in Tanzania and concluded that contrary to the popular notion they Are Quick and efficient kill ers often More so than Lions throttling the system used most often by the cats they said is less gory and is therefore considered to be a Kinder Way of killing sometimes though it takes 10 minutes for a victim to the Van Lawick goo Dalls found that wild dog kills nearly always took less than two the hundreds of kills observed by Schaller and other reliable sources Only once did a lion leap at it Quarry and never did Schaller find any evidence of broken necks. Most typically a lioness kills by qui etly sneaking up on its victim until it is Only 10 to 30 Yards away and then with the advantage of sur prise bursting put of its hiding place and running at the often the relatively slow and heavy lion Bun Gles the Job by charging from too far away or Zig Ging when the prey tags. But should the lioness get within Paw s reach it Hooks its claws into the Ani Mal s flank throwing it off balance and bringing it Down. The lion bites the animal s neck usually atthe Throat and keeps its Teeth clenched until the animal strangles. Sometimes a lion will actually place its Mouth Over the muzzle of the prey suffocating does the lion growl or snarl at its prey such aggressive display is reserved for fellow Lions. The kill is made As quietly and dispassionately As a housewife buys a an animal is subdued Schaller wrote a kill has a most disruptive influence on lion society. The Lions seem to become asocial As each animal bolts its meat while snarling and slapping at any group member that seems to threaten its share. Crouched or standing Lions surround a kill and eat wherever they can in a writhing and growling mass until the carcass can be All the food Lions eat surprisingly Little is killed by the Lions themselves. Often they steal it fro Mother predators such As hyenas and wild dogs species whose popular image is As undeservedly Low As the lion s is High. With the recent findings of other re searchers in Africa Schaller s work goes a Long Way toward and demystifying the lion and putting him Back into his proper ecological the worldwide desire to preserve the animals of East Africa continues to grow and begins to dictate wildlife management policies there becomes Jess and less room for false or sentimental notions about any species there was a time when East african National Park authorities had to draft a serious reply to a demand that in keeping with the idea of pre serving wildlife Park rangers should prevent Lions from killing other animals hyenas and wild dogs Are not the hideous filthy creatures most of us think and neither Are Lions Noble and Majestic animals ruling Over their Afri can Domain. The lion is pretty Good at Hunting but it botches the Job much of the contributes to the general welfare by weeding out the sick and the elderly prey animals but no Wand then it kills a healthy defenceless baby Ante Lope. Lions prefer to live peaceably and they have turned laziness into a Fine Art but once in a while they fight among themselves sometimes viciously killing each other words the lion like All other creatures is simply an Ordinary working stiff trying to make a living the Best Way it can. Sunday november 18/ 1973 the stars and stripes Page a 7
