I've seen the movie based on this non-fiction book, but not the actual source material itself. So let's take a peek. This review contains brief mentions of racism and animal death.
Joy Adamson and her husband George Adamson, who is a gamekeeper in Kenya, adopt a lioness cub at a young age and raise her themselves. However, as the cub, Elsa, starts to grow, they decide to set up a project to see if it's possible to release Elsa back into the Kenyan wilderness as a free lioness. This book follows their efforts and the eventual cubs Elsa produces.
Overall this is another one of these books where I think the goal is noble but at the same time (like with Chrisian the lion) I do wonder if it was ever successfully realized. Despite the book insisting that Elsa is truly free by the time she's an adult, I kinda doubt it.
Technically, she is certainly free. She isn't held captive; she can come and go as she pleases. The Adamsons were also at least somewhat successful in rewilding her as she can hunt for herself and seems to get along with some of her own kind. However, there's also a lot of points in the book where I go "this lioness isn't that wild at all".
Despite being released, Elsa is consistently being visited by one or both of the Adamsons, with her hanging around their camp. They also constantly feed her and give her medical checkups during these visits. And this just makes me raise an eyebrow. If Elsa was truly supposed to be wild, wasn't she supposed to take care of herself like a wild lioness? Because right now she feels like a free-roaming lion with constant human backup to look after her. Which wild lions obviously do not have.
Elsa is also very accustomed to being around people, so is releasing her into the wild (with many tribes nearby) even a good thing? Especially with it being established that Elsa doesn't tolerate dark-skinned people (yes, the lioness is literally racist)? She has no natural fear or hesitation of getting close to humans; she just does it. So despite her technically being a wild animal, there's also a lot of points where I wonder if she should be one in the first place.
Then later into the book Elsa unfortunately dies, but not before giving birth to a few cubs who are already decently-sized by the time she passes. I really hoped that the Adamsons would at least grant the cubs the normal life of a wild lion by interfering as little in their lives as possible, but of course they feel the need to also constantly check up on the cubs and feed them if needed. While the cubs luckily never quite grow as accustomed to humans as Elsa was, they're still not at all hesitant of getting close to them. Which once again poses a threat to the local tribes as the cubs repeatedly try to raid their bomas. One of the cubs has to live for like a year with an arrowhead embedded inside of him because these people were defending themselves.
So I again ask the question: are these truly wild animals and should they truly be released in a location where they pose a threat to the locals and their livestock? I know zoos weren't as good back then as they were nowadays, but maybe it would've been the better option for both the animals and humans involved. Heck, it was even originally the plan to locate at least Elsa at the Rotterdam Zoo. If this were the case, they lions would probably live longer lives and the locals would be safe from lions that don't fear humans roaming near them. I get that it's sad that they're not free, but are they even truly free if they constantly have the Adamsons to feed them and give them medical checkups?
I somewhat get the Adamsons getting involved in the cub's lives after Elsa dies; they would've died without them as they were still too young to look after themselves. But then don't claim they're wild lions and release them in a reserve with many local tribes. It's just asking for trouble.
So while I liked reading the book and Joy and George Adamson's many interactions with her and the cubs, I have some very big question marks regarding their methods. These lions are not truly wild, these lions are accustomed to humans and thus may pose a threat to them. I just wish this wasn't often highlighted as a successful tale of rewilding an animal because of this.
The book itself was well-written, I just don't find the content very agreeable. Noble efforts but I think that in the end the lions would've been better off at a zoo or rescue center where they are looked after and don't pose a threat to humans.
Also, a note: despite this book (being written by Joy Adamson herself) portrays her as an angel trying to take care of wildlife and being amicable with the locals, in reality there's been many claims by her African workers that she treated them horribly. Heck, this is what led to her being murdered in the end, by one of her workers. It doesn't really shine through in her writing, of course (in some minor moments, but overall the books portrays her as treating her staff well and thinking at least decently of them), but I do think it's important to acknowledge this. Especially since she tries to paint a prettier picture of herself in her book than has been widely claimed. Some further reading on this can be found over here.
Rating: 3/5
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