Elsa the lion

Lion

The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

ess (c. January 1956 to January 24, 1961) was raised by game warden George Adamson

George Adamson

George Adamson , also known as the "Baba ya Simba" , was a British wildlife conservationist and author...

 and his wife Joy Adamson

Joy Adamson

Joy Adamson was a naturalist, artist, and author best known for her book, Born Free, which describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa...

 in Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

. Elsa and her two sisters, 'Big One' and 'Lustica', first came under the care of the Adamsons when only a few weeks old. They had become orphaned when George was reluctantly forced to kill their mother during one of his safaris. Her two sisters were eventually sent to the Rotterdam Zoo

Diergaarde Blijdorp

Diergaarde Blijdorp is a zoo in the northwestern part of Rotterdam, one of the oldest zoos in the Netherlands...

 in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, while Elsa herself remained with the Adamsons until she was released into the wild, following the Adamsons' efforts to train her to survive on her own.
While Elsa lived in many ways like a domesticated pet when she was small, Joy Adamson

Joy Adamson

Joy Adamson was a naturalist, artist, and author best known for her book, Born Free, which describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa...

, whom Elsa trusted the most, considered her relationship with Elsa to be that of equals.