Before the Dangerous Animals Act of 1976, it was quite possible to walk into Harrods and buy yourself a pet lion or leopard cub.
This led to the story of Christian the Lion, who was a Harrods lion cub raised in a Chelsea flat in London before his owners later tried to rehabilitate him back to the wild by taking him to Africa during a groundbreaking effort for it’s time
>*”The idea that anyone could buy a lion and move it into an urban environment seems shocking now. But, in London in the 60s, says Rendall, anything was possible. “Christian wasn’t the only wild cat in this world. His neighbour was a serval cat. There was a chap in Battersea with a puma. John Aspinall had his tigers in Eaton Square and there were cheetahs and cougars roaming around Regent Street.*
>*”An exotic animal in London was just a part of exotic, experimental London. There were so many things going on. There was the fashion, the music. We would see the Stones and the Beatles driving up and down Kings Road. The Stones, who rehearsed around the corner, used to pop in and visit Christian frequently. In that milieu, we were just a couple of Aussies with a lion.”*
1 comment
Before the Dangerous Animals Act of 1976, it was quite possible to walk into Harrods and buy yourself a pet lion or leopard cub.
This led to the story of Christian the Lion, who was a Harrods lion cub raised in a Chelsea flat in London before his owners later tried to rehabilitate him back to the wild by taking him to Africa during a groundbreaking effort for it’s time
>*”The idea that anyone could buy a lion and move it into an urban environment seems shocking now. But, in London in the 60s, says Rendall, anything was possible. “Christian wasn’t the only wild cat in this world. His neighbour was a serval cat. There was a chap in Battersea with a puma. John Aspinall had his tigers in Eaton Square and there were cheetahs and cougars roaming around Regent Street.*
>*”An exotic animal in London was just a part of exotic, experimental London. There were so many things going on. There was the fashion, the music. We would see the Stones and the Beatles driving up and down Kings Road. The Stones, who rehearsed around the corner, used to pop in and visit Christian frequently. In that milieu, we were just a couple of Aussies with a lion.”*
(Full story & photos here: [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/may/28/christian-the-lion-rendall-bourke](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/may/28/christian-the-lion-rendall-bourke) ).