Bourke and Rendall’s Careful Custody of Christian

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Recommended: Keeping animals in zoos ethical considerations stake holders

Throughout the years, wild animals in captivity has been a topic of great controversy. The debate lies within the animal itself; some people believe that having animals in captivity strips them of their natural instincts and thus ruins the animal. In contrast, other people believe that keeping certain animals in captivity can save the animal from the cruel world it would have been forced to live otherwise. In the novel A Lion Called Christian, the latter opinion had taken on a unique twist and was brought to life through Anthony Bourke, John Rendall and their lion, Christian. When Anthony and John decide to purchase an African Lion from a vender in the Harrods mega-market, they decided that by temporarily keeping the lion themselves and eventually finding a place for him to be released back into the wild, they would ultimately save him from living a probable life in a zoo. Later on in their adventure with Christian, they become friends with a well known, who helps them find an area in Africa to rehabilitate and release Christian. Anthony and John were not only able to save Christian from living a possibly terrible life in a zoo, but properly care for Christian and prepare him for the life he was to lead in Africa after his rehabilitation was complete.

Zoo maintenance has been a controversial topic for many of years, and the world has made large strides in improving it. Despite this, even in this day and age, there are still a multitude of problems with regards to animal welfare. Although zoos do gather information about the animals the have in captivity, they fail to apply that gathered information into improving the lifestyles of the animals they have. Among other things, the problems zoos face are as followed: making sure the...

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...istian from turning into the “house cat” he essentially was in his first few months. Anthony and John properly cared for Christian, and prepared him for independent wild cat life in Africa, all while saving him from the captured zoo life.

Works Cited

Hayward, Matt W., and Rob Slotow. "Temporal Partitioning Of Activity In Large African Carnivores: Tests Of Multiple Hypotheses." South African Journal Of Wildlife Research 39.2 (2009): 109-125. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.

Rapson, Jackie A., and Ric T. F. Bernard. "Interpreting The Diet Of Lions (Panthera Leo); A Comparison Of Various Methods Of Analysis." South African Journal Of Wildlife Research 37.2 (2007): 179-187. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.

Zamir, Tzachi. "The Welfare-Based Defense Of Zoos." Society & Animals 15.2 (2007): 191-201. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Dec. 2011.

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