0:00:02 > 0:00:07'50 years ago, a landmark book was published - Born Free.
0:00:07 > 0:00:12'It told how the Adamsons - Austrian artist and British game warden -
0:00:12 > 0:00:15'brought up an orphaned lion cub and released her
0:00:15 > 0:00:18'back into the wilds of Kenya.'
0:00:18 > 0:00:21There are many stories about people and wild animals.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24But never quite like this one.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28'The book became an international best seller, selling millions,
0:00:28 > 0:00:32'and was given the Hollywood treatment.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35'It changed a generation's attitude towards wildlife
0:00:35 > 0:00:40'and turned the Adamsons into one of the first conservation superstars.'
0:00:40 > 0:00:45Joy Adamson and her book were probably the first time
0:00:45 > 0:00:48that there was a major shift of opinion.
0:00:48 > 0:00:54'Alongside, lay a different story that didn't have a happy ending.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57'Of life in a beautiful but harsh landscape
0:00:57 > 0:01:02'alongside violent animals and a constant threat of murderous bandits
0:01:02 > 0:01:06'that ended with Joy and George being killed.'
0:01:06 > 0:01:11The shot that killed him was when they were firing at him from behind.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15'The Adamsons' story is held up as a symbol
0:01:15 > 0:01:19'of how humans can live alongside wild animals.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23'But it continues to fiercely divide opinion.'
0:01:23 > 0:01:26There will always be people who want fairy stories.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29The natural world is more complex.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37- NEWSREEL:- 'Africa! Bloody, primitive, lustful.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40'Still ruled by fang and claw,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43'tawny kings of slaughter.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:48'Before Born Free was published,
0:01:48 > 0:01:53'Europeans had a very particular view of Africa -
0:01:53 > 0:01:57'the dark continent, inhabited by exotic dangerous animals,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59'where only the brave dared to go.'
0:02:01 > 0:02:05Either you shot big game, regarded as being honourable,
0:02:05 > 0:02:09adventurous, noble and manly
0:02:09 > 0:02:13and, if you could, get a record with the longest horns
0:02:13 > 0:02:15or the heaviest weight.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Or you went in with lassoes and captured things,
0:02:19 > 0:02:24and brought them back to show them as monsters of the jungle.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28When I was a child, I'd go to the cinema
0:02:28 > 0:02:31and see animal films, always films about
0:02:31 > 0:02:36animals being shot by very brave big game hunters
0:02:36 > 0:02:39mowing down an elephant.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43I found this disgusting, but people seemed to find it thrilling.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49'This one-dimensional image of wildlife was painted
0:02:49 > 0:02:53'while Kenya was still part of the British Empire.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56'George and Joy were mavericks in this world,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59'where wild animals were just a commodity.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03'The book Joy was about to write would overturn
0:03:03 > 0:03:06'conventional attitudes to "savage beasts",
0:03:06 > 0:03:11'insisting that you could have a meaningful relationship with them.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20'The Born Free story started in 1942 when George and Joy met at a party
0:03:20 > 0:03:24'on the Tana River in northern Kenya.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'Joy was with her husband, Peter Bally,
0:03:28 > 0:03:34'and George was taking a break from the lonely life of a game warden.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41'After the party, they all went off on safari together,
0:03:41 > 0:03:46'where Joy and George got to know each other better.'
0:03:46 > 0:03:50When we got to Ijara, I realised that, er...
0:03:50 > 0:03:55Joy and myself were falling in love with each other.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59This created a very embarrassing situation.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02About a month later,
0:04:02 > 0:04:07I had to go to Nairobi to report to the chief game warden,
0:04:07 > 0:04:12and I made up my mind that on no account would I see anything of Joy.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16So I went to a hotel and booked a room.
0:04:16 > 0:04:22As I came out, who did I see but Joy? That was the end of my good intentions.
0:04:22 > 0:04:28'Joy divorced her husband and, within a week, married George.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31'They often travelled together in the bush.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35'This was unusual for a western woman because of the dangers.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39'Her desire to do so was fuelled by an insatiable curiosity
0:04:39 > 0:04:41'for the natural world
0:04:41 > 0:04:44'and a real talent as an artist.'
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Joy was obviously attracted
0:04:48 > 0:04:51to George for his lifestyle.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55And the places that he went, the area he covered,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58the sort of quiet man that he was.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01He obviously admired her ability to keep up
0:05:01 > 0:05:04on these walks through the bush.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09Just imagine all these other colonial people had married
0:05:09 > 0:05:13very nice ladies with Laura Ashley dresses, doing their knitting.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17And here was this absolute lunatic from Austria.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22'As game warden, George looked after the northern frontier of Kenya,
0:05:22 > 0:05:27'a region the size of the British Isles.
0:05:27 > 0:05:33'At this time, the Europeans had bagged Kenya's most fertile land
0:05:33 > 0:05:35'for agriculture.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38'Reserves were set aside for wildlife.
0:05:38 > 0:05:45'As they were unfenced, conflict between animals and local pasturalists was inevitable.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48'George Adamson was there to keep the peace.'
0:05:48 > 0:05:51His job was to protect the habitat
0:05:51 > 0:05:56set aside for wildlife, and dealing with conflict issues
0:05:56 > 0:06:00between local people and the animals that he was protecting.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04So, on occasion, he would have to shoot a lion
0:06:04 > 0:06:08that had raided cattle or was a threat to human life.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11'In 1956, George was tracking a lion
0:06:11 > 0:06:15'that had killed and eaten his game scout's brother
0:06:15 > 0:06:19'when his assistant was confronted by a hostile lioness.'
0:06:19 > 0:06:24Suddenly, I saw him turn, look under the rock and fire his rifle.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28At that moment, a lioness dashed out straight at him.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32I couldn't shoot because he was in my line of fire.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37Luckily, the game scout fired and caused the lioness to turn.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40As she turned, I managed to shoot her.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42GUN SHOT
0:06:45 > 0:06:48'The lioness was found to be in milk,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52'meaning there were almost certainly cubs nearby.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56'George and his assistant set about trying to find them.'
0:06:56 > 0:07:00We located the cubs in a cleft in the rock.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04They were deep inside. We couldn't reach them.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09We had to cut a forked stick and, finally, we got these cubs out.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19'George brought the three cubs back to Joy to look after.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23'She wanted to keep all of them
0:07:23 > 0:07:27'but, in the end, was only allowed to keep one - Elsa.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30'The other two were sent to a zoo.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40'The extraordinary record of their life with Elsa
0:07:40 > 0:07:44'exists because Joy and George had the foresight to shoot
0:07:44 > 0:07:47'dozens of reels of cine film.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52'The Adamsons wanted to return Elsa to the wild
0:07:52 > 0:07:56'and were determined to release her while she was young.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04'One major obstacle stood in the way.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07'Elsa couldn't hunt for herself.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12'Joy and George set about teaching her, improvising along the way.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21'George began by killing animals in front of Elsa
0:08:21 > 0:08:24'and getting her to take possession.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29'This progressed to dragging carcasses behind their car.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32'Elsa graduated to killing for herself
0:08:32 > 0:08:36'and the Adamsons felt she was equipped to live free
0:08:36 > 0:08:40'and, perhaps one day, mate in the wild.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43'This achievement was remarkable in itself.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48'When Elsa was released, instead of disappearing into the wilderness,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52'she regularly visited the Adamsons.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55'Was it possible these savage beasts
0:08:55 > 0:08:59'were able to have friendships with humans?
0:09:01 > 0:09:05'An already extraordinary relationship was made unique
0:09:05 > 0:09:11'when, one day, she arrived at the Adamsons' camp with three cubs.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14'News of this remarkable story spread
0:09:14 > 0:09:19'when a young David Attenborough was invited to the Adamsons.'
0:09:21 > 0:09:26My cameraman colleague and I were fortunate to be invited by the Adamsons
0:09:26 > 0:09:29out to Kenya.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32We arrived at the end of the dry season,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35when the whole of Kenya was bare and dusty.
0:09:38 > 0:09:44'They were not at all what I had thought. George was very gruff.'
0:09:44 > 0:09:47He grunted, "Ugh! OK!" That sort of thing.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49And Joy was extreme...
0:09:49 > 0:09:53extremely brusque and rude to him.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57'I didn't hear her being affectionate to him at all.'
0:09:57 > 0:10:01'Tensions between Joy and George were heightened,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05'because Elsa and her cubs had just disappeared.'
0:10:05 > 0:10:12'Joy said that Elsa had been fighting with a female that was trying to take over her territory.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15'And Joy said to George,'
0:10:15 > 0:10:18"You must go out and shoot it."
0:10:18 > 0:10:23Which wasn't exactly the animal lover I thought I'd come to see.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26George was very gruff, and then it got violent.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30It was so embarrassing, I got up and left.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34JOY CALLS TO ELSA
0:10:34 > 0:10:39Elsa turned up and strolled into the camp and Joy was in ecstasy.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Her beloved animal had returned.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47Elsa, come on. Come on.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52Joy rushed and embraced Elsa.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57And said, "Jinja mbusin!" I don't speak Swahili.
0:10:57 > 0:11:03I thought that meant she was calling it a ginger pussy! It means "kill a goat".
0:11:03 > 0:11:06While Joy was going, "My dear Elsa,"
0:11:06 > 0:11:12at the back there were the blood-curdling sounds of a goat
0:11:12 > 0:11:14having its throat cut.
0:11:14 > 0:11:20With the blood still gushing from its throat, this shuddering body
0:11:20 > 0:11:23was dragged in and chained to a stump
0:11:23 > 0:11:25so that Elsa could toy with it.
0:11:28 > 0:11:34'It was uncharted territory, and the Adamsons' relationship with Elsa
0:11:34 > 0:11:38'raised many questions in Attenborough's mind.'
0:11:38 > 0:11:41There is certainly a contradiction
0:11:41 > 0:11:47between thinking that one individual animal is so important
0:11:47 > 0:11:53that you will kill other individual animals to support that animal.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57'Elsa was the centre of Joy's world.'
0:11:58 > 0:12:00JOY: I can't explain,
0:12:00 > 0:12:05my relation to Elsa because it is something I can't compare.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10I have never had the deep...love,
0:12:10 > 0:12:15in the purest sense of the word, with any human being before.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22The truth about Joy is she always wanted unconditional love,
0:12:22 > 0:12:28which probably no human being is ever quite capable of evoking
0:12:28 > 0:12:30in somebody else.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34But I think she felt that she had it with Elsa.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39'One interpretation of this extraordinarily strong relationship
0:12:39 > 0:12:43'was that Elsa had become the child that Joy and George never had.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47'Desmond Morris, the then curator for mammals at London Zoo,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51'believed the real reasons were more complex.'
0:12:51 > 0:12:56I've heard people say that Elsa was like a child to Joy.
0:12:56 > 0:13:02But...she was bigger than Joy! She wasn't really a child figure.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06It sounds strange to say this but I think she was...
0:13:06 > 0:13:11I don't mean this physically, but she was Joy's lover.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Joy was in love with Elsa.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17It was a loving, almost erotic relationship.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21'Joy wanted to tell the world
0:13:21 > 0:13:25'about rehabilitating Elsa back to the wild,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28'and the extraordinary relationship they had.
0:13:28 > 0:13:34'She decided to write a book and went to Desmond Morris for advice.'
0:13:34 > 0:13:38She didn't walk in, she padded, like a lioness.
0:13:38 > 0:13:44She was carrying a pile of photo albums, like this. Great big tower of albums.
0:13:44 > 0:13:51She put them on my desk and said, "I want you to help me with my lioness. Look at these!"
0:13:51 > 0:13:54I took the first album and opened it
0:13:54 > 0:13:59and there was a picture of her with an adult lioness
0:13:59 > 0:14:01in a fond embrace.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05I turned the page and there was another photograph of her
0:14:05 > 0:14:07in a fond embrace with a lioness.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12I went through all these albums, thousands of pictures of her
0:14:12 > 0:14:15almost all in a fond embrace with a lioness.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18I said, "Well, how can I help?"
0:14:18 > 0:14:23She said, "I want to write a book about it and you must help me."
0:14:23 > 0:14:25I said, "Honestly,
0:14:25 > 0:14:30"I don't think there's a plot that would make a book."
0:14:30 > 0:14:36She picked up her albums and padded out and said she would find somebody who could help her.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41She went round various publishers who told her the same story.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45I wasn't the only one, but boy did we get it wrong?!
0:14:45 > 0:14:50'Undeterred by this knock-back, Joy returned to Kenya
0:14:50 > 0:14:52'and wrote Born Free,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56'sometimes drawing on George's copious diaries for reference.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00'The manuscript was rejected by dozens of publishers.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05'They didn't think the public would be interested in their story.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10'Joy's luck changed when she visited a founder of Harvill Press.'
0:15:10 > 0:15:15One morning in 1959, I came into our office
0:15:15 > 0:15:19and saw a lady sitting at my desk.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24She said, "I'm Joy Adamson and I've brought you a best-seller."
0:15:24 > 0:15:28She was holding a rather dog-eared manuscript.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35When I'd heard the extraordinary history of Elsa,
0:15:35 > 0:15:40I was as sure as she was that this really was a best-seller.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46'What was different about Born Free
0:15:46 > 0:15:51'was that nobody had written about an intense personal relationship
0:15:51 > 0:15:54'with a wild animal like this before.
0:15:54 > 0:16:00'There were fictional stories, like The Jungle Book, but this was real.
0:16:00 > 0:16:06'Something else was different about this book for its time -
0:16:06 > 0:16:12'photos that graphically showed the Adamsons' relationship with Elsa.'
0:16:14 > 0:16:17The pictures in Born Free are attractive.
0:16:17 > 0:16:24They do imply a possibility of a direct personal link
0:16:24 > 0:16:27between a human and another animal, a predator.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32That was very attractive and fitted with 1960s environmentalism
0:16:32 > 0:16:38that put people into nature, talked about the relations between people and nature as close,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40not one of dominance.
0:16:40 > 0:16:47'The timing of Born Free also coincided with a wave of interest
0:16:47 > 0:16:50'in all things wild.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55'A new genre of natural history television programmes
0:16:55 > 0:17:01'had created the perfect environment into which this book was published.'
0:17:01 > 0:17:05DESMOND MORRIS: Television was introducing people to animals.
0:17:05 > 0:17:11David Attenborough was doing Zoo Quest for BBC. I was doing Zoo Time for ITV.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16Armand and Michaela were doing On Safari.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22People were discovering natural history.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26The cinema had never really done this.
0:17:26 > 0:17:32Then, just as we thought we'd had enough, she showed her profile.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37Surely, the most abnormal and freakish rhino horn ever seen.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42DESMOND MORRIS: It was a period when people were ready
0:17:42 > 0:17:47to see animals more as fascinating creatures to be studied,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51rather than wild beasts to be hunted down.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56'But this new genre of television programme
0:17:56 > 0:17:59'took quite a simplistic approach.'
0:18:01 > 0:18:04The advantage television had
0:18:04 > 0:18:08was that you could do it in half-hour lumps.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12You could say, "This is an elephant. Isn't that lovely?
0:18:12 > 0:18:16"By the way, over here is a rhinoceros.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18"Over there is a giraffe."
0:18:18 > 0:18:22You didn't actually need a coherent story,
0:18:22 > 0:18:28a dramatic line, necessarily, to get people interested in wildlife.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33Now what came along was, having got that interest, seen the landscape,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36now you've got a dramatic story.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44The book turned out to be a quite extraordinary best-seller.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49I don't know... Probably translated into 20 or 30 languages.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53It sold millions of copies all over the world.
0:18:53 > 0:18:59After five years, Joy had earned the equivalent of 10 million in today's money.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06'This enormous success made the Adamsons globally famous.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09'But it was starting to take its toll
0:19:09 > 0:19:12'on their already brittle marriage.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18'Before Elsa, they would often spend long periods of time apart.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20'While she was around,
0:19:20 > 0:19:25'they stayed together for the longest period in their marriage.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30'After Elsa died from tick fever in 1961,
0:19:30 > 0:19:36'a heartbroken Joy and George began to spend most of their time apart.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41'Joy went on a worldwide lecture tour promoting the book,
0:19:41 > 0:19:45'while George stayed in Kenya.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49'With the marriage in difficulty, Joy feared George would leave her.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54'She tightened her grip on the millions the book was generating
0:19:54 > 0:19:58'and refused to share the royalties with George.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02'Joy donated most of the money to a charity she set up
0:20:02 > 0:20:07'to fund various conservation projects in Kenya.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12'It wasn't just here that the impact of Elsa's story was being felt.
0:20:12 > 0:20:20'It was starting to unleash a cultural phenomenon all over the western world.'
0:20:20 > 0:20:25When I was making my programmes, Zoo Time, I often set a competition.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29One of the competitions was when I asked children
0:20:29 > 0:20:33to send me a painting of their favourite animal.
0:20:33 > 0:20:39I got a lot of lions and, believe it or not, I still have some of these.
0:20:39 > 0:20:45Before Elsa, this is how children saw lions, in those days.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49It was a ten-year-old who did that.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Here's a rather sad looking lion.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56Children had a very specific image of lions.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00But Joy, bringing along more friendly lions,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04gave us this splendid collection.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Now, suddenly, the lions are all smiling.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Christopher Nicholls, aged 8.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16LAUGHING: Just coming up to retirement age now! He's 58 now!
0:21:16 > 0:21:20I don't think we'd have seen happy lions
0:21:20 > 0:21:24without Elsa's story being so well known.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33'The story of the relationship between Joy Adamson and Elsa
0:21:33 > 0:21:35'was inducing a friendlier attitude
0:21:35 > 0:21:37'towards wild animals.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40'They'd shed their savage image
0:21:40 > 0:21:45'from colonial times, when they were feared and hunted.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49'Instead, they were being attributed with personalities,
0:21:49 > 0:21:55'individual characteristics that had been reserved for pets,
0:21:55 > 0:21:57'with the same feelings as humans -
0:21:57 > 0:22:01'a tendency known as anthropomorphism,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05'something which many accused Joy of doing.'
0:22:05 > 0:22:10What the Adamsons had done was to take an animal
0:22:10 > 0:22:16and rear it to become equipped to hunt in the wild.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20That animal had, voluntarily, come back
0:22:20 > 0:22:25and brought her cubs to show to their foster parents.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28That very sentence is anthropomorphic.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33How do I know she brought those cubs to show to her foster parents,
0:22:33 > 0:22:38that it was her foster parents that she thought had to see her babies?
0:22:38 > 0:22:42I don't. Neither did Joy, but Joy believed that was so.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45JOY: One afternoon,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49when she brought the cubs across the river,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53she was definitely very proud of them and loved them.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58The fact was that she said, "Here I am with my family.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00"I'm bringing them to you."
0:23:01 > 0:23:04'Giving animals emotions like pride and love
0:23:04 > 0:23:08'was seen as inappropriate by scientists at the time.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12'When Born Free was published, the scientific view
0:23:12 > 0:23:15'was that animals only had instincts and reflexes,
0:23:15 > 0:23:19'and weren't capable of having individual will.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24'Much of the scientific community felt that Joy's observations,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27'lacking academic rigour, proved nothing.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32'But this new thinking that animals could have individual feelings
0:23:32 > 0:23:35'began to inform some scientific research.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40'One scientist wanted to formalise the study of animal behaviour,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43'Dr Louis Leakey.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47'Along with his wife Mary, their discoveries of primate fossils
0:23:47 > 0:23:53'rewrote the history on the origins of mankind.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55'Being a paleoanthropologist,
0:23:55 > 0:24:00'Leakey sought an evolutionary connection between apes and mankind
0:24:00 > 0:24:03'by linking their behaviour.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07'One of his methods was to send female researchers into the wild
0:24:07 > 0:24:11'to observe and document animal behaviour.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15'The first was Jane Goodall, who studied chimps.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19'She was followed by Dian Fossey, studying gorillas,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22'and Birute Galdikas, studying orangutans.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27'Like Joy Adamson, Leakey's "angels" weren't scientists, either.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30'At least, not when they started.'
0:24:30 > 0:24:35He wanted them to be as open-minded and unblinkered as possible,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38while he did direct their research.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43And then got them enlisted into universities,
0:24:43 > 0:24:48so they were taken into the scientific community.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52But, because they came from a non-scientific background,
0:24:52 > 0:24:57they pushed at the limits of what was acceptable.
0:24:57 > 0:25:04'Like Joy, Jane Goodall gave names to the animals she was studying.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09'This act alone was met with fierce disapproval from academics.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12'They were used to only giving
0:25:12 > 0:25:15'the animals they were observing a number.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20'Jane persisted with her work and, along with other field researchers,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24'started to formalise the observation of wild animals.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29'Slowly, scientific thinking began to change about animal behaviour,
0:25:29 > 0:25:32'revealing intriguing insights.'
0:25:32 > 0:25:36We saw, certainly in advanced animals, intelligent ones
0:25:36 > 0:25:38and less intelligent ones.
0:25:38 > 0:25:44Aggressive ones and cowardly ones. That's a moral term! Less aggressive.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49And that had a huge effect, I think, on zoological science.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Now, I think, we do have
0:25:53 > 0:25:55a much more measured and accurate
0:25:55 > 0:25:59and profound understanding of animal life,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04because we recognise that there are individuals within the society.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08I'm talking about the higher animals, the more complex ones.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11That has been a very useful corrective.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17'Now that both the scientific community and public accepted
0:26:17 > 0:26:21'that wild animals had individual characteristics,
0:26:21 > 0:26:26'this raised philosophical questions about how they should be treated.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30'It used to be acceptable to confine animals in small cages.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32'With this new thinking,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36'such practices became highly questionable.'
0:26:38 > 0:26:43The research that has come out on animal intelligence
0:26:43 > 0:26:47has led us, really, to the point where we have to question
0:26:47 > 0:26:51what are animals' rights, what rights should they have?
0:26:51 > 0:26:56The changing attitudes towards animals fuelled
0:26:56 > 0:27:01a whole new conservation movement,
0:27:01 > 0:27:05which was quite different from our old colonial idea of,
0:27:05 > 0:27:11"We'll put this land aside because it's a good hunting reserve for us."
0:27:11 > 0:27:16For the first time, animals were being protected for their own sake.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21This sense that they had as much right to live on this earth
0:27:21 > 0:27:23as we do.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26MUSIC: Theme to "Born Free"
0:27:27 > 0:27:33'The book Born Free had contributed to this emerging consciousness.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35'But this was only the start.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40'What would ultimately turn it into a global movement for conservation
0:27:40 > 0:27:44'was when Hollywood got hold of it in 1966.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49'The feature film of Born Free
0:27:49 > 0:27:54'starred the married couple of Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58'To make the story realistic, they were going to replicate
0:27:58 > 0:28:02'the relationship Joy and George had with Elsa,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04'but on a much larger scale.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09'On hand, to help them forge these relationships with the film lions,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11'was the original George.'
0:28:11 > 0:28:13It was decided at the beginning,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17when we were doing the film in this new way,
0:28:17 > 0:28:21that George Adamson, ourselves and the lionesses would be free
0:28:21 > 0:28:25and the crew would be in cages with the camera.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Now, there were very sensible reasons for that.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33We had to establish the relationship with the animal.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35It worked really well.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43In the end, we had over 20 animals of varying ages and sizes.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47Probably about four or five were animals
0:28:47 > 0:28:51that we had to get to know quite well as individuals.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59I think we really did have a glimpse of what could be established
0:28:59 > 0:29:03between a human being and a wild creature.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08Particularly a dangerous wild creature, a carnivore, like a lion.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15'This novel approach to filming was successful
0:29:15 > 0:29:21'and brought the story of Born Free to a new audience of millions.
0:29:21 > 0:29:26'It had a more direct effect on its stars, who became evangelists
0:29:26 > 0:29:29'for the conservation movement.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32'In the movie, Elsa was released into the wild.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37'The reality of what happened to the film lions was different.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39'After shooting had finished,
0:29:39 > 0:29:43'all of them were to be sold to zoos around the world
0:29:43 > 0:29:47'so that the producers could recoup some production costs.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51'To Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna this was a betrayal
0:29:51 > 0:29:54'of what the Born Free story was about.
0:29:54 > 0:30:01'They lobbied hard to have all the lions released into the wild.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05'Eventually, the producers relented.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08'Three film lions, Boy, Girl and Ugas,
0:30:08 > 0:30:13'were sent to George's camp to start their rehabilitation.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16'Stirred by what had happened,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19'Bill and Virginia made their first documentary
0:30:19 > 0:30:23'about the film lions they'd worked with.'
0:30:23 > 0:30:28Bill was going off to George's tiny camp, to make his documentary.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32And I stayed at home, feeling quite envious, I have to say,
0:30:32 > 0:30:36that he was off having all that fun.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Although loving being with the children!
0:30:39 > 0:30:43I felt so much part of the story. It was hard to be left behind.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48I wasn't really left behind because he phoned me, not very successfully.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52Is that you, Bill? FAINT VOICE ON CRACKLING LINE
0:30:52 > 0:30:56No, sorry. I can't... You keep fading, darling.
0:30:56 > 0:31:02I'm sorry if I keep fading. I'm making a radio telephone call.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08'After the lions are freed, Bill and Virginia made a feature film
0:31:08 > 0:31:12'about an elephant in Kenya called Pole Pole,
0:31:12 > 0:31:16'which went to London Zoo after filming was finished.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21'In 1983, when she died in captivity after a botched attempt to move her,
0:31:21 > 0:31:26'the Travers decided it was time to do more than just make films.
0:31:26 > 0:31:33'They set up a charity to focus on why wild animals should no longer be kept in captivity,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36'and campaigned to close the worst zoos.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38'Initially Zoo Check,
0:31:38 > 0:31:42'the name was changed to the Born Free Foundation in 1991,
0:31:42 > 0:31:44'with a broadened focus
0:31:44 > 0:31:49'across a range of species, from dolphins to giraffes.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54'It's now been going for over 25 years and, to celebrate,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58'they're having a star-studded fundraiser at the Albert Hall.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10'The charity is run by Bill Travers' and Virginia McKenna's son, Will.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14'He has experienced first-hand how the meaning of the name Born Free
0:32:14 > 0:32:18'has changed from the publication of the book 50 years ago.'
0:32:18 > 0:32:23Born Free is a brand, but we've got a brand with value.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28A pedigree goes back to the book, through the film and the foundation
0:32:28 > 0:32:30for 25 years.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34I think, people who care about animals,
0:32:34 > 0:32:38when they hear "Born Free", even if they don't know what we do,
0:32:38 > 0:32:40they know what we stand for.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44'In the 50 years since Born Free was published,
0:32:44 > 0:32:49'the Adamsons have become legends in the conservation movement.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54'Virginia holds the friendships she had with both of them very dear.'
0:32:54 > 0:33:01It was ten days ago that I was standing next to Elsa's grave.
0:33:04 > 0:33:10'The first time that I stood there was in 1965
0:33:10 > 0:33:12'with Joy Adamson.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15'She invited me to go for three days
0:33:15 > 0:33:21'and really just experience her emotions about this animal
0:33:21 > 0:33:23'about which she felt so deeply.
0:33:29 > 0:33:34'After I'd been standing at Elsa's grave,'
0:33:34 > 0:33:37I then went to George's first little camp
0:33:37 > 0:33:39'in Meru,
0:33:39 > 0:33:45'where he started his lion rehabilitation work
0:33:45 > 0:33:48'with our three lions from Born Free.'
0:33:52 > 0:33:59You don't really need the rusty metal things, you only have to remember the man and the spirit.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01That's really fine.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06VOICE BREAKING: He was such a good friend.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11Bill and I both treasured his friendship so much.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22I thought he was an extraordinary man.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27The proof of it, that his lions loved him.
0:34:27 > 0:34:33If you're loved by a wild animal, that says something for you.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40'Some of the descendents of these film lions can be seen
0:34:40 > 0:34:43'in Meru National Park today.'
0:34:43 > 0:34:45Oh, my goodness!
0:34:47 > 0:34:53There is a chance that some of the lions you see in Meru here
0:34:53 > 0:34:55are descendents of Girl.
0:34:55 > 0:35:01Girl was one of the lions that was in Born Free.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03We know that Girl had cubs.
0:35:03 > 0:35:10And... So these could be, COULD be, descendents of hers.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13I like to think that.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15They never cease to impress me.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20I just think they're the most wonderful species of animal.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25I love all animals, but obviously I feel a special feeling for lions,
0:35:25 > 0:35:27because of Born Free.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34'Throughout the 1960s and '70s,
0:35:34 > 0:35:38'public attitudes towards keeping animals in captivity changed.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43'Cheaper air travel, combined with a desire to see animals in the wild,
0:35:43 > 0:35:49'created a multi-billion-pound tourist industry.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54'This income is often held up as a solution to conservation issues.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58'Some see this as being a bit simplistic.'
0:35:58 > 0:36:03Born Free contributed to a set of ideas about African wildlife
0:36:03 > 0:36:05in the minds of people
0:36:05 > 0:36:07in Europe and North America.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11An image of Africa as a wild place, full of amazing animals,
0:36:11 > 0:36:16where people could go and have close relations with those animals.
0:36:16 > 0:36:22That was never a true picture of the relations between people and wildlife in Africa.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27And it isn't a helpful basis for constructing conservation.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36The money that tourism generates goes through a lot of hands
0:36:36 > 0:36:41before it trickles back to poorer African people.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Usually, very little gets to local people.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50So there is a sense that protected areas,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54national parks, national reserves, are a playground
0:36:54 > 0:36:56for European tourists.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59'There can be no doubt
0:36:59 > 0:37:03'that tourist money helps sustain conservation areas
0:37:03 > 0:37:05'like Meru and other reserves.
0:37:05 > 0:37:10'To attract this money, tourists want to see the big game of Africa,
0:37:10 > 0:37:14'lions especially, and this raises concerns
0:37:14 > 0:37:18'because it can focus conservation efforts on large charismatic animals
0:37:18 > 0:37:23'and often doesn't take the whole of biodiversity into account.'
0:37:23 > 0:37:27It's about protecting the fierce, the rare, the dramatic,
0:37:27 > 0:37:32which is not, any more, particularly helpful.
0:37:32 > 0:37:38Efforts that go into protecting particular individuals and rare species
0:37:38 > 0:37:41may be good in an animal welfare sense,
0:37:41 > 0:37:45but it isn't delivering conservation of living diversity
0:37:45 > 0:37:48across east Africa in a very complete way.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50THUNDER RUMBLES
0:37:50 > 0:37:55'An alternative view is that, by focusing on charismatic animals
0:37:55 > 0:38:00'at the top of the food chain, the whole ecosystem benefits.'
0:38:00 > 0:38:02There is great value attached
0:38:02 > 0:38:04to individual stories.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08We can follow the story of an animal from birth to death.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13If we follow individuals, we can expand on the wider issues
0:38:13 > 0:38:16then become, hopefully, part of the solution.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21'As fierce debates about conservation continue,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25'they show how the story of Born Free took on a life
0:38:25 > 0:38:29'separate from Joy and George Adamson.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33'They continued to live out their own lives,
0:38:33 > 0:38:35'without the Hollywood ending.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40'In the mid '60s, the Adamsons were both still living in Meru,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44'but in separate camps on opposite sides of the park.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48'Joy raised and released a cheetah, Pippa,
0:38:48 > 0:38:52'replicating the same remarkable relationship she had had with Elsa.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56'Even though Elsa had died several years before,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00'Joy believed that she was still guiding her work.'
0:39:00 > 0:39:02I need to be very careful
0:39:02 > 0:39:07not to be regarded as a crank - I'm not. I don't think so.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11My friends, at least, don't make me feel like I'm a crank.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15This, I have no comparing in all this.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18But there is a force in me which...
0:39:20 > 0:39:23..um, sometimes works on me
0:39:23 > 0:39:26as if something dictates me to do.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30And I am just a kind of, er...
0:39:30 > 0:39:32interpreter, medium.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37'Joy wrote two books about her experiences with Pippa.
0:39:37 > 0:39:42'These, along with Born Free and its sequels,
0:39:42 > 0:39:46'continued to make millions for Joy's wildlife appeal.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50'She used this money to help set up four national parks in Kenya,
0:39:50 > 0:39:52'including Meru.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58'While Joy was with Pippa the cheetah,
0:39:58 > 0:40:04'George continued to rehabilitate and release lions into the wild.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08'His work with the three film lions, Boy, Girl and Ugas,
0:40:08 > 0:40:12'initially went well, but it wasn't to last.'
0:40:17 > 0:40:23The Adamsons were naive in what they were trying to achieve.
0:40:23 > 0:40:29The idea that you can raise lion cubs, get them to lose their fear of humans
0:40:29 > 0:40:34then release them into a reserve where there are humans nearby,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37which make them very easy prey,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40is extremely foolish.
0:40:40 > 0:40:46I think George was perfectly well aware that releasing lions
0:40:46 > 0:40:50was an extremely dangerous occupation.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54There is no such thing as a totally safe lion.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57He knew that but he believed, on balance,
0:40:57 > 0:41:02that it was not criminally irresponsible
0:41:02 > 0:41:05to let loose these creatures.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09He probably did underestimate the dangers.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18'In 1969, his favourite lion, Boy,
0:41:18 > 0:41:22'attacked a child sitting in a car.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26'Boy should have been shot for this, but he escaped a death sentence
0:41:26 > 0:41:29'and was moved out of Meru instead.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33'George found a new home for Boy
0:41:33 > 0:41:37'in central Kenya, at Kora.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40'Here, his project could start up afresh.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43'He set up camp with his assistant, Stanley.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47'It wasn't long before Boy attacked again.'
0:41:51 > 0:41:56Early on the morning of 6th June, my cook, Kimani, came into the hut
0:41:56 > 0:41:59and said that Boy had just arrived.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03A few minutes later, Kimani had come in to clear the table,
0:42:03 > 0:42:08when both of us heard cries from the bush behind the camp.
0:42:08 > 0:42:13I grabbed my rifle and ran to the back gate of the compound.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16I saw Boy with Stanley in his jaws.
0:42:16 > 0:42:21As I rushed at him, he dropped Stanley and moved into the bush.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26I ran a few paces past Stanley and shot Boy through the heart.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31In a few moments, I was back with Stanley.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35As I started to examine his wounds, he died.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42'Shooting Boy was the hardest thing that George had ever had to do.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45'It deeply affected him.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49'His diary entry that night reveals how he felt.'
0:42:51 > 0:42:56"Lions very quiet. They know something's happened.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00"Boy, my old friend - farewell."
0:43:07 > 0:43:12'Following Stanley's death, George needed to find an assistant.
0:43:12 > 0:43:17'The answer came from the East End of London in Tony Fitzjohn,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21'who would become George's right-hand man.'
0:43:27 > 0:43:31Here's the Kora boundary. We're just coming in now.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39'Tony left here over 20 years ago but has been invited back
0:43:39 > 0:43:46'by the Kenya Wildlife Service to look at rehabilitating the park so that tourists will visit.'
0:43:50 > 0:43:54I lived with a guy old enough to be my grandfather for 20 years.
0:43:54 > 0:43:59I'm going back to Kora the same age he was when I joined him.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01That's very weird.
0:44:08 > 0:44:13'There is a threat of Somali bandits in the area.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18'The Kenya Wildlife Service keeps an armed presence to stop incursions.'
0:44:18 > 0:44:22- How are you?- Good. Nice seeing you again.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25Can we have a ride to camp, please?
0:44:28 > 0:44:31'Tony first arrived at the camp
0:44:31 > 0:44:37'after being picked up from the nearest town by George's brother.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41'With no experience, he was about to get thrown to the lions
0:44:41 > 0:44:46'and start to help George rehabilitate them back to the wild.'
0:44:48 > 0:44:51'I came in through the main gate.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53'George came out of the mess.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58'There was a lioness pacing up and down the wire, calling.'
0:44:58 > 0:45:03Everything felt right. I just thought, "This is extraordinary."
0:45:03 > 0:45:08'I remember a couple of weeks later George turning round and saying,
0:45:08 > 0:45:11'"How long do you think you can stay?"'
0:45:11 > 0:45:14I said, "About ten, 12 years, I guess!"
0:45:14 > 0:45:17So he was kind of stuck with me!
0:45:20 > 0:45:24'When George and I had perfected our methods getting these lions back,
0:45:24 > 0:45:29'we were running up to 16, 17 lions at a time in three prides.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32'That took some juggling.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38'We probably worked so well because so few people came here.
0:45:38 > 0:45:43'We were just left alone to do it on our own.'
0:45:46 > 0:45:49'Since Elsa had died in 1961,
0:45:49 > 0:45:53'Joy and George had spent increasing amounts of time apart.
0:45:53 > 0:45:58'By the 1970s, they were effectively separated.'
0:45:58 > 0:46:00I never really understood.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05I think there was a lot of "decent old gent" stuff in there.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10They were just doing their separate things.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14Every time she came here, he'd get so upset.
0:46:14 > 0:46:19She'd create such a stir. Obviously, they were completely incompatible.
0:46:21 > 0:46:26'George was now firmly established in the wilderness of Kora.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31'Joy had moved on to rehabilitating a leopard called Penny.
0:46:31 > 0:46:36'Everybody thought that she'd taken on too much this time.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40'Leopards are seen as much more unpredictable
0:46:40 > 0:46:42'than lions or cheetahs.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46'Working with her, she received several broken bones.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50'Life in camp was also made hard for Joy
0:46:50 > 0:46:53'because of her difficult personality.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56'She wasn't getting on with her staff.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59DESMOND MORRIS: She understood animals brilliantly.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02But she didn't understand people.
0:47:02 > 0:47:07She didn't know how to handle people.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11She treated them like a lioness would treat an interloper.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15People got a pretty rough time from her, I think.
0:47:16 > 0:47:21'It was a hard and dangerous life but, by the end of 1979,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25'she'd succeeded against everyone's expectations.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27'Penny had given birth to two cubs
0:47:27 > 0:47:31'and Joy had finished writing her book about the story.'
0:47:31 > 0:47:37Every evening, she went for a walk out of the camp just before dark.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39One night, she failed to come back.
0:47:39 > 0:47:44The assistant went to look for her and found, 200 or 300 yards away,
0:47:44 > 0:47:49her body slashed and bleeding beside the track.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54He radioed for help and said he thought
0:47:54 > 0:47:57that Joy had been killed by a lion.
0:47:59 > 0:48:04This led to a news flash going all the way round the world
0:48:04 > 0:48:07that Joy had been killed by a lion.
0:48:07 > 0:48:13And, in a way, this might have been a poetic end to the story.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19'A postmortem revealed that she'd died from a knife wound.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23'Her murderer was an ex employee
0:48:23 > 0:48:27'who she'd got into an argument with over money.'
0:48:30 > 0:48:35In her books and films and, above all, in her influence,
0:48:35 > 0:48:40she will continue to extend on all people of goodwill
0:48:40 > 0:48:45who care what happens to all of God's creatures.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47'Joy was cremated
0:48:47 > 0:48:52'and her ashes divided between the graves of Pippa the cheetah
0:48:52 > 0:48:54'and her beloved Elsa.
0:49:03 > 0:49:08'Although George didn't see money from Born Free while Joy was alive,
0:49:08 > 0:49:12'she did leave him £8,000 a year in her will.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16'This, with his game warden's pension,
0:49:16 > 0:49:20'continued to fund his lion project in Kora.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25'In the '80s, his situation was becoming increasingly dangerous.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29'Just across the Tana River were Somali bandits,
0:49:29 > 0:49:34'who poached wildlife in Kora and sent George threats
0:49:34 > 0:49:36'because they wanted his land.'
0:49:36 > 0:49:40George had been living with danger all his life.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44So he wasn't surprised when he heard that the Somalis,
0:49:44 > 0:49:50who lived across the frontier close to the reserve, were out to get him.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54'In 1986,
0:49:54 > 0:49:56'his brother Terrence died.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59'Then, in 1988, Tony left Kora
0:49:59 > 0:50:03'to set up his own wildlife project in Tanzania.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07'George's security was becoming compromised,
0:50:07 > 0:50:13'as two of his most trusted people were no longer with him in camp.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16'Then, in 1989,
0:50:16 > 0:50:18'the almost inevitable happened.'
0:50:18 > 0:50:23'Good evening. The headlines at six o'clock.'
0:50:23 > 0:50:29George Adamson, who worked with wild animals in east Africa, has been shot dead.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33It's believed he was murdered saving a friend from bandits.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38Someone staying in George's camp was being driven to the airport.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40The car was stopped by bandits.
0:50:40 > 0:50:46The bandits dragged the driver out and broke both his legs with an iron bar. Shots were fired.
0:50:46 > 0:50:52George heard them in the camp and drove up in his Land Rover with two men.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56The car that was shot up
0:50:56 > 0:51:03on the way to the airstrip after the plane buzzed was right here.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06SPEAKS IN SWAHILI
0:51:06 > 0:51:09So it was parked on the ditch.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13George came down, slowed down a bit, almost stopped.
0:51:14 > 0:51:20Three Somalis were taking it in turn with a lady on the front of the car.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24George saw this and got really angry.
0:51:24 > 0:51:29He must have known he didn't stand much of a chance.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32It was a bit of a suicide run, wasn't it?
0:51:37 > 0:51:42So he came down firing the pistol out of the window of his car.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46He got to here. They were shooting him in the front of the car.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50They must have hit him but didn't kill him.
0:51:50 > 0:51:57Just when he was about level with them is when he started to lose control of the car.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00He veered off the road right here
0:52:00 > 0:52:04and went off into the bush.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07The shot that actually killed him
0:52:07 > 0:52:10was when they were firing from behind.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14A shot went in through his spine at the back.
0:52:16 > 0:52:21'In the ensuing confusion, the girl George had come to help
0:52:21 > 0:52:23'managed to escape.'
0:52:23 > 0:52:26He wouldn't have objected to that death.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28He wouldn't have wanted
0:52:28 > 0:52:33to go to an old people's home and be pushed around in a wheelchair.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37Although it was terrible that he was actually killed,
0:52:37 > 0:52:41he died in the place where his heart was.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54'The funeral took place in Kora a couple of days later.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58'George's murder was reported all over the west.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02'Dozens of people flew in to pay their last respects.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06'His murder provoked an uncompromising response
0:53:06 > 0:53:08'from the Kenyan Wildlife Service.
0:53:08 > 0:53:15'Their then head, Richard Leakey, enforced a shoot-to-kill policy for all poachers.'
0:53:15 > 0:53:18The wildlife and security forces of this country
0:53:18 > 0:53:23will not be deterred by violence under any circumstances whatsoever.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30'Also, Kora was designated as a Kenyan national park,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33'a fitting legacy for George's work.'
0:53:34 > 0:53:36GUNFIRE
0:53:55 > 0:53:57The main thing is
0:53:57 > 0:54:03what George believed in, the philosophy, the work, is carried on by Tony.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14'Since George's funeral, no new lions have been released in Kora,
0:54:14 > 0:54:19'but there are now plans to start their rehabilitation once again.'
0:54:19 > 0:54:24We are in collaboration with the George Adamson Wildlife Trust,
0:54:24 > 0:54:29being headed by Tony Fitzjohn.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32Fundraising for Kora, rehabilitating Kora,
0:54:32 > 0:54:36rehabilitating first the George Adamson's camp,
0:54:36 > 0:54:40what we call Kamly Ya Simba, where he used to live.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43'Tony and the Kenyan Wildlife Service
0:54:43 > 0:54:48'are under no illusions that this will be a difficult, dangerous job.
0:54:48 > 0:54:53'Not least because of poachers and bandits still in the area.'
0:54:53 > 0:54:56We are fighting the war against anybody
0:54:56 > 0:55:00'who is against wildlife and conservation.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04'So I can say we are playing a great role.'
0:55:04 > 0:55:07And we are proud of that.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12'Conservation was introduced into Kenya by the colonial government
0:55:12 > 0:55:15'and continued after independence in 1963,
0:55:15 > 0:55:20'when Africans started to take control of their own wildlife.
0:55:20 > 0:55:26'There are initiatives to teach the next generation about conservation issues.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29'Born Free has a role in this.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34'At Joy's old home on Lake Naivasha there is a field study centre
0:55:34 > 0:55:37'for schoolchildren.'
0:55:37 > 0:55:39Elsa was a lioness.
0:55:39 > 0:55:44And "mere", for us here, means "near water".
0:55:45 > 0:55:48'Here, they learn about their wildlife.
0:55:48 > 0:55:53'It is on this new generation of African children
0:55:53 > 0:55:58'that the future of conservation in Kenya will rely.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08'It all started out as two people's experiment
0:56:08 > 0:56:13'to see if they could rehabilitate a lion cub back into the wild.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15'From these small beginnings,
0:56:15 > 0:56:20'its influence can still be felt far and wide.'
0:56:20 > 0:56:24How does Born Free, the story of Elsa,
0:56:24 > 0:56:31fit into the history of the 20th century's changing attitude towards animals?
0:56:31 > 0:56:36I think the answer is that it gave it a boost.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39People were beginning to see animals
0:56:39 > 0:56:43as partners, if you like, with humans
0:56:43 > 0:56:45on this small planet.
0:56:45 > 0:56:51And not as...simply us and them, but we were all together
0:56:51 > 0:56:56in this problem of how this planet was going to survive.
0:56:56 > 0:57:01'Born Free played an important role in showing how wild animals
0:57:01 > 0:57:04'could no longer be seen as a commodity
0:57:04 > 0:57:09'but should be recognised as individuals that deserved rights.'
0:57:09 > 0:57:12You have the mind set that has changed.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16Millions of people do not regard lions, for example,
0:57:16 > 0:57:19as bloodthirsty killers,
0:57:19 > 0:57:22but as creatures with personalities, with desires,
0:57:22 > 0:57:27with needs, and I think that is the most phenomenal legacy
0:57:27 > 0:57:32from two people and a cub in the bush in the 1950s.
0:57:32 > 0:57:37'This cultural shift helped spawn a global conservation movement
0:57:37 > 0:57:40'that is still going strong.
0:57:40 > 0:57:45'The positive impact that Born Free's had since it was published
0:57:45 > 0:57:47'can be in little doubt.
0:57:47 > 0:57:52'50 years on, the issues facing conservation have changed.'
0:57:52 > 0:57:58It's hugely to the Adamsons' credit, Joy and George,
0:57:58 > 0:58:03taking that popularity and that income and that surge of feeling,
0:58:03 > 0:58:07they allowed it to be taken into fuelling the conservation movement.
0:58:07 > 0:58:16That should never be minimised but, I would hope that as we continue,
0:58:16 > 0:58:20the zeitgeist that enabled that to happen
0:58:20 > 0:58:23has become a little more sophisticated
0:58:23 > 0:58:28so that now people realise that the natural world is more complex.
0:58:28 > 0:58:32Our relationship with the natural world is more complex.
0:58:49 > 0:58:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd