HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN
August 12, 2019
Ace Bourke with Christian, 1972
BIRTHDAY: It is now 50 years since Christian was born in a zoo in Ilfracombe, Devon in the UK on 12 August 1969!!!!
I appreciate so many of you still being interested in Christian’s story, and there seems to be renewed interest in him again at the moment.
I have never been able to accurately articulate or understand exactly why Christian’s story has had such an appeal…for so long. Oprah Winfrey asked me this when we appeared on her program, and I went on and on! There are quite a few factors. He was gorgeous, lovable, charismatic and photogenic. He loved us and demonstrated that a human-animal relationship like this was possible. He had a friendly and outgoing nature, unlike his sister who was with him in Harrods Department Store in London where we first saw him. He drove his own destiny – he charmed his way to the department store and charmed us, and then later Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna and George Adamson of Born Free fame. He was “rescued” from captivity and, miraculously, taken to Kenya where he was set free and lived a natural life, for a few years at the very least. He was “rehabilitated” by the wonderful George Adamson who created a pride around him. His story reminds us of a time when life was a little more natural and unregulated, and adventures like this were possible. Not that I am recommending anyone do it now! We were extremely fortunate.
His continuing popularity is also due to the fact that his life was so well documented: in two initial documentaries; a later one, plus featuring in various others; several books; and Derek Cattani’s photographs. The available footage led to our reunion with him in Africa becoming an internet phenomenon. Watch it again here.
We have actually had very little criticism for our actions, although with the unpleasant practice of Canned Hunting in Africa – the petting, handling and patting of cubs in particular is definitely not to be encouraged. Some say the ease of Christian’s rehabilitation supports the argument – from the hunting lobby – that the catastrophic decline in numbers can be reversed, by “rewilding”, the way Christian was in Africa. But there are several major factors responsible for the decline, especially over-population and diminishing habitats.
NEW BOOK ON CHRISTIAN: If I had had the opportunity, I would have added some of the above comments, and some analytical and reflective depth to the recent book Christian the Lion: The Illustrated Legacy by John Rendall and Christian’s photographer, Derek Cattani. There are some previously unpublished photographs of Christian which gave me the most pleasure.
Having received so many often fascinating and moving emails over the years, I think your own experiences with animals, your endeavours on their behalf, and feelings about Christian, are also part of Christian’s “legacy”. Many of them are recorded in my earlier blogs and on our website alioncalledchristian.com.au, although I must apologise for not keeping it as up to date as I should.
WORKING FOR ANIMALS: Christine Townend, her husband Jeremy and hard-working vets and staff run 2 animal shelters in Darjeeling and Kalimpong in India. She has been my mentor in the fields of animal welfare, animal rights and conservation. I have often blogged about her – and I am on the Committee of Working For Animals. The shelters primarily cater for dogs and cats, and the programs she has initiated with dogs have eliminated rabies from the communities, although this is ongoing.
Christine is revered for her work in India, and this year she received an Order of Australia Medal for “service to animal welfare”. She of course modestly commented “I’m glad animals have been acknowledged”.
INDIA: I have been invited to speak at many conferences relating to animal rights and welfare, but I especially like going to India. I have met the most wonderful people from all over the world, often academic leaders in their fields. Christian has inspired many of them – some when they were young, so I feel they are also part of Christian’s legacy.
Tiger in Ranthambore National Park, 2016. Photograph by Ace Bourke.
TIGERS: India provided a highlight I will never forget: seeing tigers close up in the wild at Ranthambore, Rajasthan in 2016. Creating sanctuaries in national parks, making it a crime to kill them, and prosecuting poachers, has seen an increase in tiger numbers from 2226 in 2014, to 2967 in 2018. 80% of the world’s tigers live in India. I felt a little guilty becoming so enamoured of tigers, but I had, however, visited Indian lions in Gir, Gujarat previously, and blogged about them at the time.
We celebrated International Tiger Day on 29 July 2019, and World Lion Day on 10 August 2019.
HARRODS DOCUMENTARY: A few months ago friends alerted me to the fact that Christian was in the advertisements for the documentary Inside Harrods: The World’s Most Famous Department Store. Our story was given considerable time and I had no idea Christian was such an important part of the Harrods history. It is an uncomfortable feeling when you don’t have any say over the use of your shared story or image. Again, however, it was enjoyable to see good footage of Christian, and after watching, I decided that 50 years on, it is probably not a good idea to appear up against footage of oneself when one was young!
Disney’s The Lion King movie
MOVIE: The recently released The Lion King movie (Disney) is proving very successful – mixed reviews not-with-standing, taking $US185 million on the opening weekend in the USA. I have only seen the advertisements and the lions look beautiful. Sony own the rights to Christian’s story but seem to have no intention of ever making a film. Looking at the success of The Lion King, a film about Christian and the many aspects and lessons illustrated in his story, could also have been, and should have been, a part of his legacy.
AUSTRALIA: David Attenborough recently spoke before a British Parliamentary Committee on Climate Change – and singled out Australia and the USA for a lack of action. He said the deterioration of our Great Barrier Reef was a “vivid” example. Our conservative government was unexpectedly re-elected with virtually only one policy, “tax cuts”. We are still arguing if climate change is real and we have no energy policy and consequently unnecessarily high electricity costs. The contested Adani coal mine may still go ahead, and the International Monetary Fund recently estimated that global fossil fuel subsidies have grown to around $US5.2 trillion a year. According to Nature magazine recently, global temperatures rose faster in the final decades of the C20th than at any other time in the past 2000 years. Earlier temperature variations were influenced by volcanic activity, and human-caused climate change was now “overwhelming” natural variability.
ANIMALS: A recent UN Report states that a million species are at risk of extinction. These are rates that are unprecedented in human history and are caused by human expansion and the exploitation of habitats. Australia has the highest rate of mammal extinction in the world, and seemingly inadequate recovery plans. We have among the world’s worst deforestation record, and even one of our most iconic animals, the koala, is at risk.
New government legislation is more interested in prosecuting animal activists, than protecting animals or our environment.
I have tried to discuss and blog about these issues for years and despair at the lack of leadership or action. This is why I don’t really want to blog and comment these days, and I strongly object to the fact that scientists and experts are ignored, and creative, imaginative, innovative and progressive ideas are disparaged. The extremely dangerous President of the USA has succeeded with his lies in making it very hard to discern fact from fiction (over 10,000 false or misleading claims while in office so far), while Boris Johnson also has a reputation for lying.
BOOKS: I loved Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, a novel based on his tough childhood in the suburbs of Brisbane. I have now read everything by Helen Garner, one of Australia’s best writers. I was amused by Less by Andrew Sean Greer.
I am reading This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrants Manifesto by Suketu Mehta. This examines how colonial powers ruthlessly exploited the resources of various countries and their people, drew arbitrary boundaries, and particularly at the moment, have an undeserved “fear” of immigrants. When asked “Why are you here?” immigrants can justly respond, “We are here because you were there”.
I was very impressed with The Colonial Fantasy: Why White Australia Can’t Solve Black Problems by Sarah Maddison. It summarises our appalling mistreatment since 1778 of the Aboriginal population who have lived in Australia for at least 60,000 years. Again, “their dispossession underwrote the development of the nation” (a quote from the 1992 Mabo Judgement). Some of you kindly ask what I am working on, and this book has partly inspired me to write. The Aborigines have never been asked to advise on their own issues, and there is a current contested debate about Aborigines having an advisory Voice to Parliament. This was part of the Uluru Statement of the Heart by Aboriginal people in 2017 which offered an intelligent, reasonable and modest way forward towards “reconciliation”, although some argue reconciliation is for white people to feel better about themselves. The Statement was summarily dismissed by the government.
As many of you know I have been privileged to be a curator of Aboriginal art and have known or worked with some of the very best artists. I am also descended from several colonial Governors who impacted on Indigenous lives. I’m trying to write about my relationship with all of this, to clarify my feelings and thoughts for myself, and my efforts may be worth publishing one day.
PERSONAL: On a lighter note, my cat is wonderful although I still miss her brother who we lost several years ago, and I am looking forward to my first trip to Morocco. I hope you are having happy and fulfilling lives with your families, friends and animals, and let’s wish for some unexpected new leadership which will make our lives and the world a better and more sustainable place for the future.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN!
Photo Derek Cattani
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN!
This photograph was in 1970 with Christian and Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna in the English countryside. Christian had outgrown London and we waited there for months for permission to take Christian back to Kenya to be rehabilitated by George Adamson of Born Free fame. This is where Christian celebrated his first birthday on 12 August 1970. His friend Unity Jones, who played with him every day in London, brought him a meat cake from London on the train.
For those of you unfamiliar with Christian’s story, I posted more details last year on his birthday, and the full story is on the website www.alioncalledchristian.com.au or in our book A Lion Called Christian.
BORN FREE FOUNDATION: see this video where a short version of Christian’s story is recounted by Virginia McKenna and her son Will. The photographs of Christian (by Derek Cattani) are beautiful. The Born Free Foundation is soon to return a lion called King to Shamwari in South Africa, and we all wish him well.
SONY: SONY bought the film option to our book A Lion Called Christian nearly a decade ago. It has never looked like going into production. In the 1960s the book and film Born Free told the story of Elsa the lioness and her return to the wild. Joy and George Adamson were played in the film by Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, and it is a wonderful film which changed the attitude of millions of people to animals worldwide.
Christian’s story may not be in the same league, but it does seem to appeal to many people and it could contribute to raising awareness of the disastrous tipping point we have actually passed in regard to the survival of many animals.
Lions, like other animals are in an extinction vortex. Estimates of course vary, but I have read that there were approximately 100,000 lions in Africa in Christian’s time in the 1970s, and now there are under 20,000. In 2009 there were under 2000 lions left in Kenya.
Cats celebrating Diwali at the Darjeeling Animal Shelter
WORKING FOR ANIMALS: At our animal shelter in Kalimpong, India, we are buying adjoining land to build a cattery. I am particularly thrilled about this, as we all know how cats need space. Any contributions from fellow cat lovers are very welcome. I am on the Committee and hope to attend the opening when it is built. I visited our animal shelters in Darjeeling (DAS) and Kalimpong (KAS) a few years ago. They are beautifully situated in the most spectacular mountain region. For our work see workingforanimals I particularly admire how rabies is kept under control in the communities. We do need vets from time to time and it is an extraordinary opportunity for them.
CHRISTINE TOWNEND: The profits from Christine Townend’s book A Life for Animals are going towards our Darjeeling (DAS) and Kalimpong (KAS) animal shelters that she and her husband Jeremy founded. The book describes Christine’s journey from founding Animal Liberation in Australia (1976), and Animals Australia with Peter Singer (1980). It is an interesting history of the period – and how she felt she had to leave Australia, such was the hostility towards her for protesting on the wharf against live sheep exports in the 1970s. The book also describes her many years working for animals in India where she is highly respected, indeed revered.
FIAPO: I had hoped to attend The India For Animals Conference in Hyderabad 26th -28th October 2018. I have attended and spoken at previous conferences and they always have very interesting speakers and address important issues. The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisation continues to grow into a very extensive and mutually beneficial grouping of like-minded animal welfare advocates and animal shelters.
LIVE SHEEP EXPORT: Christine Townend, now Chair of Animals Australia, ironically sees her objections to the live sheep export trade in the 1970s, still unresolved. This has been one of the main animal welfare scandals recently in Australia. 2400 sheep recently died on board in appalling conditions and heat on the way to the Middle East.
The licence of the company was suspended, and this inhumane trade will have to be phased out. Animals Australia and the RSPCA have led a very effective television campaign and protest.
See How NZ banned the live export of sheep for slaughter 15 years ago
New Zealand ceased live sheep exports in 2003 and has successfully continued with a “boxed” meat trade. Some are still exported for “breeding purposes”. Australia exported nearly 2 million sheep in 2017, and we don’t as yet have the facilities to “box” so many animals here.
I have recently been to New Zealand several times and adored it. My main criticism is that the dairy industry has polluted what one would assume to be pristine water ways and this has contaminated some town drinking water and coast lines. The dairy cattle dilemma is like coal in Australia, and backed by equally powerful vested interests.
Bob Marchant’s 1989 painting of George Adamson and lions was recently exhibited again
MEAT:There are more and more vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Sydney (the Little Turtle in Enmore, Sydney, is a current vegan favourite). In Europe last year it was quite hard to find good vegetarian restaurants. I have now been vegetarian for quite a few years and it has been an easy transition.
All my life I have been appalled by butcher shops – those grisly images of carcases being carried from the truck into the butcher shop! So hygienic! See this video if you want to be put off meat!
Some serious people do predict that to be sustainable, the world will have to become vegan. Too much land and water is devoted to “farming” animals to eat and growing crops to feed them. Clearing more and more land is destroying animal’s habitats and degrading the soil.
Unfortunately, the meat for our pets’ food contributes 1/3 of the environmental impact of the meat industry. Yes, I confess I feed my cat meat although I try to encourage her to eat other food. Apparently there are 9 million cats and dogs in Australia, 163 million in the USA, and a fast growing number in China.
The impact of cattle emissions on climate change is the next battle ground. Australia’s carbon emissions are 13% from agriculture, 35% from electricity generation, and 17% from transportation. 70% of emissions in agriculture are from the potent green house gas methane produced by cattle.
AUSTRALIA: To think I used to complain about a lack of leadership! I hope you are all doing alright in this quite changed and even more unpredictable world. In Australia, our conservative government, rather than administering our country and planning for the future, are bitterly self-sabotaging themselves, fighting over the best way to hold Australia back somewhere in the last century. Consequently we have no energy policy. Scientific evidence about climate change is challenged, experts discredited and the government is hostage to the vested interests of the coal and fossil fuel lobby. They are supported in their disinformation by Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian newspaper(Sky News, and Fox News in the USA etc).
A current article in The Monthly is entitled How the world’s oceans and all marine life are on the brink of total collapse. It makes chilling reading – the damage from rising temperatures, acidification, plastics, oil spills etc. In the last decade there are 1/3rd less large fish in Australian waters. Our famous Great Barrier Reef is dying and supposedly to save it, our government has just made “the single largest investment in history” – $440 million dollars – to a private foundation, without a tender process. It is developing as a huge scandal. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation avoids the words “climate change” and “global warming”, has a staff of 6, and the Chairman’s Panel includes CEO’s from fossil fuel companies, even Peabody Energy, notorious for funding climate-deniers.
We are in severe drought throughout NSW and Queensland, there are horrific and deadly wildfires and floods around the world, and the record temperatures in Europe.
Global warming experts warn that the earth is already halfway to the point of no return.
Such is the present uncertainty in the world – and the plight of millions of displaced people, the environment and animals are fighting to be heard.
In Australia however, we do have many people dedicated to animal’s rights and welfare.
Donalea Patman www.fortheloveofwildlife.org.au loves lions and works tirelessly on their behalf. She successfully lobbied for Australia to ban the importation of lion animal body parts or trophies. Trump’s son likes hunting animals and is “rolling back” equivalent USA legislation – issuing more Lion Trophy permits. Donalea has recently been participating in a Parliamentary Enquiry into the unregulated domestic trade in ivory and rhino horn. She and another tireless advocate Lynn Johnson (www.natureneedsmore.org) have both been producing effective ads discouraging the unregulated trade in ivory and rhino horn.
I do want to acknowledge the sad death of Tony the Tiger, and despite the efforts of so many, never left the Louisiana Truck Stop in the USA.
Artist Nafisa at Animal Works (www.animalsworks.com.au) recently staged Tiger Tales, an exhibition raising money for tigers. She was assisted by Imogen and Sara Menzies, cat lover extraordinaire, who now concentrates on protecting and conserving big cats in Africa through the organisation African Cat Project www.africancatproject.org
Coincidentally, Animal Works is staging a 4 day exhibition of Christian’s photographs at H’Art Matters Gallery, Mosman, Sydney – for World Lion Day 10th August, and finishing on Christian’s birthday – today 12th August!
Today we celebrate World Elephant Day!
Champion race horse Chautauqua
HORSE RACING AND GREYHOUNDS: I have to admire the handsome Chautauqua, the Grey Flash, an eight year old champion horse that has won nearly $9 million in prize money. Recently he has refused to leave the barrier for the sixth time. Bravo! Racing is still dogged by accusations of doping, corruption, wastage and cruelty. Banning use of the whip would create a level playing field.
A few years ago the NSW State Government for very good reasons after several scandals, abruptly banned greyhound racing. This was handled appallingly. There was a backlash, and then a back flip. Now emboldened, despite a mass grave of greyhounds found recently, there is to be a Million Dollar Chase in Sydney later in the year! The NSW Government put in $500,000!
George Adamson and Christian
We have always been asked how long did Christian live and how big did he grow? This is him at his biggest – and probably early 1973. George Adamson said he had grown into the one of the largest lions in Kenya. So he was in good condition when he presumably set out to create his own territory and pride in early 1973 in the direction of the more bountiful Meru National Park. The wild local lions at Kora had made life very difficult for him from the start, but he had survived.
He was never seen again, and may have lived another 10 years.
Happy Birthday to Christian and my best wishes to all of you.
CHRISTIAN, DiCAPRIO, GEORGE ADAMSON WILDLIFE PRESERVATION TRUST, WORKING FOR ANIMALS, TIGERS, FIAPO
August 12, 2016
Ace with Christian, 1972. Photograph courtesy GAWPT.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN
Christian was born on the 12th August 1969 in an unprepossessing and long closed down zoo in Ilfracombe, Devon, UK. Who could have imagined after five generations of captivity in Europe, he would be returned to Africa, and be successfully rehabilitated by George Adamson of Born Free fame?
For those unfamiliar with Christian’s story, see his website alioncalledchristian.com.au.
I am most often asked what happened to Christian. No-one knows. Christian was last seen by George Adamson in early 1973 when he was nearly four years old and was growing into one of the largest lions George had ever seen. He had survived the most dangerous years, although life as an adult lion would also always be very challenging. George thought he was looking for a territory of his own, away from the aggressive local lions of Kora. We like to think Christian created a pride of his own and lived at least the average 10 -12 years of lions in the wild.
Christian remains very popular and I continue to get many emails from nearly everywhere – often in waves from another round on Facebook, or as other countries discover him – like India more recently.
It was the posting on YouTube in 2008 of our reunion with Christian in Kenya in 1971 which brought Christian’s story back to a new and wider audience (100 million+ views), and our clip was recently listed as No. 5 on the top 20 to 1 Viral Sensations (Channel 9).
Sony bought the rights to our story in 2008. Given Christian’s enduring popularity, and the many relevant issues his life exemplifies, I am disappointed that many years have now gone by and sadly we are no closer to going into production. My feelings are exacerbated by the fact that there is such a crisis in wildlife, indeed we are at a tipping point for many species, not only lions, elephants and rhinos. Christian’s story could possibly make a contribution to generating more urgent action on behalf of animals in the hope of saving and protecting lives.
I’m relieved I’m not presently writing or commentating about the precarious state of the world which has unravelled even more dangerously than when I last blogged. We all deal with uncertainty and anxiety in different ways. I find it very relaxing living near the water, beside a National Park on the edge of Sydney. I like to walk, garden, read, spend time with friends and family, listen to Radio National, spoil the cat, and even do some interesting work! Despite the criticisms – and the costs to Brazil and the local population, I’m loving watching the Olympic Games and am, so far, finding it life-affirming.
Rhinos from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Facebook page. Photograph courtesy GAWPT.
GAWPT: Leonardo DiCaprio is such a great advocate for the environment and through his Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has recently donated US$15.6 million in grants – towards wildlife and habitat conservation, to aide indigenous rights, and to combat climate change and solve environmental issues. Visit his Facebook page here.
Included among the “grantees” in Africa are the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust (GAWPT)/ Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary, and the Elephant Crisis Fund (in partnership with Save the Elephant) – both very worthy recipients.
WFA: Working for Animals has a new website www.workingforanimals.org.au primarily about the WFA animal shelters in Darjeeling and Kalimpong in India. I am on the Committee of WFA and will contribute to News and Blog items from time to time. The founder, Christine Townend, is very well known internationally for her pioneering work in animal welfare and rights, and is well informed about the most pressing animal issues and debates world-wide.
We both hope to attend the upcoming Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) conference in Mumbai 21-23 October 2016. We spoke at the last FIAPO conference in Jaipur in 2014 and look forward to hearing wonderful and dedicated people talk about the successes and advances made in animal welfare in India, despite the many challenges.
WFA will continue to post information about various campaigns – and I remain especially concerned about canned hunting in Africa, and the continuing captivity of Tony the Tiger at the truck stop in Louisiana.
Tiger in Ranthambore National Park 2016. Photograph Ace Bourke.
TIGERS: I remain very excited about seeing tigers at close quarters in the Ranthambore National Park in India earlier in the year. On my return I watched several fascinating David Attenborough tiger documentaries, but as they were made several years ago, I hope the poaching and sale of tiger body parts and skins, and the flawed assessment of tiger numbers in the wild etc, are now more closely scrutinised and policed. Many issues conflate including the pressures of balancing sustainable tourism, competition for resources, the danger of wildlife to local villagers, and the expansion of wildlife corridors etc.
Officially, there are 2266 tigers approximately in India at present and 70% of the world’s tigers are in India. The most recent WWF survey states that 3890 tigers remain in the wild. I think seeing tigers up close reminded me of just how privileged I have been to know – and love – a big cat, and to be reminded of their magnificence, their power, and how they need us to fight – harder – for their survival.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN!
India, Tigers, Leopards, Lions, Vivek Menon, David Bowie etc
February 5, 2016
First sighting of tigress in Ranthambore. Copyright Avi Gupta, 2016.
Now I am back in Sydney I can’t quite believe I saw this tigress in Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan a week or so ago! She has been nick-named Arrow head and is 2 years old. Apparently she recently fought with her mother and is the age when they go off and live on their own. Our attention was drawn to the several jeeps with tourists that had parked quite near her as she rested in rushes beside a lake. All of us were thrilled – to be fortunate enough to sight a tiger (we had been unsuccessful on our first safari in the morning), and to just stare at the beauty of her markings and her magnificence.
I am feeling very blessed by the animal world after this recent visit to India where I was fortunate enough to see several Bengal tigers – in the wild – at very close range, and two leopards. India’s wildlife is as exciting as Africa’s – it is just sometimes more secretive, mysterious or requiring more patience. This can lead to disappointments …or bliss. A few years ago I only saw a tiger paw mark in Kaziranga National Park, Assam, but the compensation was seeing many elephants and rhinos on beautiful plains.
Tigress in Ranthambore. Copyright Avi Gupta, 2016.
There was great excitement as the tigress got up and moved closer towards us and settled in the rushes again, perfectly camouflaged. All their markings are distinctive – and we can see why she has been nick-named “Arrow head”. It was mid-afternoon and still quite hot.
I spoke at the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations conference in 2014 in Jaipur, and at the Minding Animals Conference at Jawaharlal Nehru University last January – so I have an idea of how much work is being done on behalf of animals in India – from the front line work of animal shelters, to all the wildlife conservancy work and related issues such as habitat destruction, wildlife tourism, protecting wildlife corridors, animal-human co-existence etc. In India and elsewhere, the academic field of Animal Studies is generating essential, diverse and often fascinating research work.
I am on the Committee of Working for Animals which administers animal shelters in Darjeeling and Kalimpong. Founded by Christine and Jeremy Townend, I am full of admiration for what the shelters achieve – for animals, and for the local populations.
‘Domestic’ chained elephant, Bandhavgarh. Copyright Avi Gupta, 2016.
I was fortunate to have lunch with Vivek Menon, Founder and Executive Director of the Wildlife Trust of India, who was about to fly to London as he was nominated for The Economist’s Inspiring Innovator of the Year. He is the first wildlife conservator to be nominated – specifically for his work in securing, restoring and expanding corridors for elephants to prevent their accidental deaths and human-animal conflict. These corridors are traditional migration routes. Vivek also told me that as a result of the Minding Animals Conference last year that the WTI co-hosted, JNU is now offering an Animal Studies course.
Second tiger sighting, Ranthambore. Copyright Avi Gupta, 2016.
After the first tiger sighting recently in Ranthambore National Park, we then drove to a lake where there were many animals and birds. This second tiger appeared unexpectedly. With the imminent danger of a tiger, animals and birds quietly disappeared, except for a few wild boars. This male tiger is also about 2 years old although he was bigger and heavier than the tigress we had seen earlier. He passed quite close to us and was striking looking. I felt quite vulnerable in our open jeep, although the tiger could not have been less interested in us. He was hunting. We watched him for half an hour, as he quietly moved closer and closer to an oblivious solitary wild boar knee-deep in the lake. As dusk was falling we had to leave the park and I’m glad I didn’t witness a grisly end to a magical afternoon.
Getting closer. Copyright Avi Gupta, 2016.
I travelled with friend and wildlife photographer Avi Gupta who took these photographs on my new Sony A6000 and familiarised me with the camera. As these encounters with tigers are relatively rare – and often fleeting, I didn’t want to miss “the moment” of actually seeing a wild tiger – or mess up the photographs. I did take some photographs with my trusty Lumix and I’ll share these next blog.
Wild boar and tiger. Copyright Avi Gupta, 2016.
Last year I visited the Asiatic lions in Gir, Gugarat and was lucky to see several handsome young ones. We also saw a stunningly beautiful leopard that suddenly crossed right in front of us. The lions have now spread out of their sanctuaries, and according to a May 2015 census, an estimated 1/3 are now living outside, establishing new territories. This obviously creates problems for villagers and their cattle. I saw one tribal village at Gir that had been relocated to a safer position within the sanctuary – with a solar panel for a light above a well. Fortunately, the numbers of lions continue to increase, and currently stand at 523 in the region.
Leopard in Bandhavgarh. Copyright Avi Gupta, 2016.
We next visited Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh in central India where we were lucky enough to have another tiger spotting…this time more fleeting. The number of tigers in India is estimated to be 2266 – and I have seen 3 of them! Jeeps materialised from nowhere and the tigress aged about 4 years old strode quickly across the track. Later, in another location, this male leopard (above) also crossed the dirt track. Next day we saw a very similar leopard, or it may have been him again.
As tigers and leopards are solitary and elusive, the safari guides rely on hearing the warnings of danger from other animals to each other. Spotted deer screech in a birdlike way, Sambar deer stomp their hooves, and langur monkeys cry out clamorously.
We saw many other animals including blue bulls, crocodiles, a sloth bear, and many birds, especially peacocks.
Tree Pi bird. Copyright Avi Gupta, 2016.
As we stopped to photograph some vultures, I asked Avi why he loved birds especially? He said “because they are everywhere”. The Tree Pi bird actually acts as a tooth pick for tigers – a dangerous job! Over 300 species of birds have been identified in Ranthambore National Park alone.
A small temple at Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh. Photograph Ace Bourke.
We also visited Panna National Park and stayed at the beautiful Ken River Lodge – overlooking the mighty river. A proposed dam would flood this tiger reserve where 32 tigers have been introduced. As it was raining I didn’t go on safari at 5.30am! On the way back to Delhi we visited the famous and magnificent Hindu temples at Khajuraho some dating from AD 900. The often erotic carvings have miraculously mostly survived intact. Near Agra I glimpsed the shimmering Taj Mahal which I have visited several times before.
Tony the tiger
TONY THE TIGER: Tony the tiger was never far from my mind in India and I have a renewed commitment to Tony the tiger in 2016. The Animal League Defence Fund say “our advocacy for Tony remains positive and strong” but time is running out. Please spread the word and have friends and family sign the petition to save Tony. There are many more tigers in private hands in the USA than there are in the wild in India, and this in no way ensures – or benefits, the long term survival of these truly magnificent animals.
The tiger replaced the lion as the National Animal of India in 1973 as part of a national tiger protection programme.
David Bowie
VALE: David Bowie (1947-2016). His emergence in the early 1970s had a huge influence on many of us and we are shocked by his death. I saw him as Ziggy Stardust (above) in 1972. We arrived in London from Australia in 1969 and this was at the tail-end of the “Carnaby Street” and “Kings Road” eras. Bowie’s genius, originality and imagination helped change and set the tone for the next decade and beyond. See this tribute in the NY Times here, and I liked his Confessions of a Vinyl Junkie here.
I enjoyed The Australian Tennis Open (although shocked by the match fixing allegations – even in tennis!), mid-flight I finally saw Blue Jasmine with the riveting Kate Blanchett who I had seen in A Streetcar named Desire, and I read Island Home by Tim Winton where he beautifully describes his relationship and growing awareness of our unique environment in Australia, and how it has influenced his ideas, writing and life. We too grew up surrounded by bush and I was horrified to recently hear “children playing outside” referred to as “unregulated nature time”! Tim Winton concludes “Aboriginal wisdom is the most under-utilized intellectual and emotional resource this country has”.
In Ranthambore National Park, 10th Century Fort in background. Photograph Ace Bourke 2016.
Lions, Blood Lions, Christian the Lion, Australia, World
September 14, 2015
BORN FREE: It was so wonderful seeing Born Free again and I just marveled at how beautiful, expressive, intelligent and socially-engaged lions are. The lions were filmed superbly, as was Africa and other wildlife. Like Joy and George Adamson with Elsa the lioness, we too took off Christian’s collar symbolically for our first walk with him on African soil and the beginning of his natural life. I will never forget it.
It is appalling to think how animal populations have diminished since 1964 when the film was made. There has been an approximately 80% reduction in numbers since, and only 20,000 lions remain in the wild.
BLOOD LIONS: There are many sad lions in Blood Lions, the recent documentary on canned hunting in South Africa (watch the trailer here). Ian Michler, a well known South African conservationist who participated in the documentary, introduced it at selected viewings in Australia. In up to 200 unregulated facilities, lionesses are forced to have too many cubs. After birth, the cubs are quickly taken away and are hand-fed to become human-friendly. Tourists pay to pat them as cubs and walk with them when a little older. Ultimately they are shot in enclosures by “hunters”. Like other animals, unwanted lions are sold for their bones and other animal parts to the Asian market. Volunteers, who pay to work at these facilities, are conned into thinking they are contributing to conservation. They are not. Breeding lions for canned hunting is not an insurance against the catastrophic decline in the numbers of wild lions.
The people making money out of canned hunting are mainly older Apartheid-era white men who, I imagine, have as little respect for the rights and welfare of lions as they did for black Africans.
President Zuma giggled about Cecil the lion’s death, describing it as “just an incident”.
Donalea Patman of fortheloveofwildlife who organised the viewings of Blood Lions, was so outraged by canned hunting that she wrote a letter to our Environment Minister Hunt. This has resulted in the ban on the importation of lion animal body parts and trophies into Australia which is an incredible achievement, and is the most effective way of eliminating canned hunting. Perhaps some of you may be inspired to write to the relevant ministers in your own countries – especially the EU and the USA.
GLOBAL MARCH FOR RHINOS, ELEPHANTS AND LIONS: On Saturday October 3rd we will meet at the Sydney Town Hall at 11.00 am and we are to be addressed by Mark Pearson of the Animal Justice Party in Martin Place. See details here.
CHRISTIAN THE LION: I loved a recent and very thoughtful email from Janice who said that Christian was obviously “loved, nurtured, cared for, and plain adored”. She goes on “But Christian’s tale isn’t a tale of tears. His tale is that of forever love, forever friendship, and of eternal freedom. No tears need to be shed for that lucky lion. If anyone wants to weep, he/she can weep for the Cecils who never received the blessings that were showered on Christian”.
WORLD: Europe is experiencing the largest transmigration of people since the 2nd World War. Germany is expecting 800,000 by the end of the year which is extraordinarily generous. Some other EU countries are less welcoming and because of the volume of people, there is now talk of borders soon being closed. The social and political consequences cannot be predicted. Lebanon and Jordan are also overwhelmed by refugees. Aid agencies do not have the resources to cope and urgently need donations. Winter is approaching. Beyond making donations, the Saudis and wealthy Gulf States do not seem particularly helpful.
Last year 60 million people were displaced around the world, and 120 million are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
You may donate to the UNHCR Syria Crisis here. It is sad that it has taken the photograph of a drowned Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi to galvanise the world into action, despite many drownings in the Mediterranean over the last few months and 71 people recently asphyxiated in a truck. .
PM Abbott’s idea of a contribution to this humanitarian disaster is, apparently, by asking President Obama to invite Australia to drop bombs in Syria. We have accepted. Doesn’t anyone ever learn? What is the strategic aim or hoped for outcome in Syria? Bombing Syria will only cause more deaths and refugees. If Assad is ousted who will fill the vacuum? Russia is extremely unlikely to allow this to happen and is apparently ready to assist Assad.
Our unnecessary involvement can only further alienate our own Muslim population, as will the discriminatory intention to select mostly Christian Syrians ahead of others in our promised 12,000 refugee intake.
Abbott’s policies on asylum seekers of just turning their boats back to Indonesia – to an unknown future – were recently described in The New York Times as “unconscionable”, “inhumane” and of “dubious legality”. While Abbott is increasingly unpopular here in the polls, he is becoming a poster boy for some of the lunatic Tea Party Republicans in the USA. The popularity of Donald Trump is very disconcerting.
It will be fascinating to watch Jeremy Corbyn, the new socialist leader of the UK Labour Party, and see how popular he will be. He is certainly a refreshing antidote to previous leaders. In comparison, it is hard to know what our own Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten actually believes in. He is not as disliked as Abbott but is not performing well either. He has also made inexcusable gaffes, and is too close to the union movement. Unlike the PM however, Shorten’s party seems united behind him.
Update since first published: Tony Abbott has been removed as Prime Minister by his own party. Bravo. He was challenged and replaced by Malcolm Turnbull who in contrast to Abbott is intelligent, sophisticated and moderate. Turnbull is independently wealthy, arrogant and not particularly astute politically. Many Australians are very happy today that we have a new PM who is not so captive to vested interests and rigid ideology, who actually believes that climate change is real and requires urgent action, and that Australia should become a republic.
Bulga Coal Mine, Hunter Valley. Image sourced from The Australian.
GREENIES: We are holding progress and development back in Australia! We are the new scapegoats to distract from the government’s economic failures. PM Abbott is not going to “protect the environment at the expense of the economy”. Planned legislation would prevent environmental court challenges by 3rd parties. For example, I would have no right to participate in a court challenge to a mine, or to protect the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, if I did not reside nearby. Ag-gag laws are also being considered. While ostensibly under the guise of “bio-security” and concern for the health of farmed animals like chickens and pigs, these laws are really an attempt to stop animal activists trespassing and exposing these cruel practices.
Apparently, if the proposed mining in the Galilee Basin in Queensland goes ahead, the world has no chance of limiting global warming by 2 degrees. One of the mines is owned by Mr. Adani who is a very wealthy Indian who is close to PM Modi. A port would have to be expanded and would require dredging near the Great Barrier Reef. The company does not have a good environmental record to put it mildly. This proposal is very unlikely to go ahead and it is not because of us “greenies” – an expression I don’t particularly like. It will be primarily because of the low price of coal and that coal is becoming a stranded asset. Major banks are refusing to finance the project. The momentum for alternative renewable energy and divesting in fossil fuel shares will just keep growing. Realistically, coal will have a role to play for decades to come – but it will be a diminishing one.
In a bizarre move, the Mineral Council of Australia has a promotional campaign “Coal Is Amazing” starring a lump of coal! It was immediately ridiculed widely. Our PM Abbott has of course said “Coal is good for humanity”. He also said that wind farms are “ugly” – could anything be uglier or more destructive of the environment than the Bulga mine in the photograph above? Could anything be more unsightly or unhealthy for the devastated local community? Shenhua are proposing a mine like this beside the Liverpool Plains which has Australia’s richest food -producing soil. A mine like this could only destroy the water aquifers.
CULLING: There is a campaign building to cruelly cull feral cats by baiting, and for restrictions on pet cats, I will return to this subject in due course. After an unusual 14 shark attacks on the NSW coast of Australia this year, there are calls to cull sharks, and a Jaws-like fear for the impact on the looming summer tourist season. Apparently one reason for the sharks is their attraction to the “balls” of millions of small fish unusually close to the coast. People are not sure what is causing this. There were several fatal shark attacks in West Australia last year, and the culling of sharks has been a very contentious and unresolved issue.
VALE: Oliver Sacks said “Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet”. What an intelligent and interesting man he was.
Khaled al-Asaad the 82 year old Syrian archaeologist was murdered by IS in Palmyra, and now the irreplaceable Temple of Bel and Temple of Baalshamin have been destroyed..
VIEWING: Last weekend I’ve enjoyed visiting the 2015 Sydney Contemporary Art Fair and the Sydney Antiques Fair. I’ve loved watching the US Tennis Open and our Rugby League football finals. The most popular recent TV shows in Australia have been cat and dog videos – programs that were probably quickly assembled when another show was cancelled. Their success hardly surprises many of us – we know what joy these animals bring into our lives.
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