The Elsa Lioness that lived between January 1956 to January 1961. It was a female lion that was raised together with her sisters. By the game warden of the area George Adamson and his wife Joy Adamson.
They were orphaned at birth and that’s why the warden and his wife had to step into ensuring their survival. The two lionesses were later taken to a zoo in Rotterdam. Here Elsa was trained to survive on her own and was later released into the wild.
The Elsa Lioness passed away too soon from babesiosis, a blood disease spread by ticks that is related to malaria and frequently affects the cat family. There is a grave for Elsa at Meru National Park. She passed away just as local opinion had started to turn against Elsa and her cubs, making the Adamsons think about relocating them. After Elsa died, her cubs became considerably more wary of anyone, even the Adamsons themselves, which made it more difficult to capture and release them later on in the Serengeti.
After 19 months of seeking, Little Elsa was found by George Adamson, healthy and with two other unrelated lions. The fate of the cubs at the time of their release was unknown. The Adamsons didn’t see any of Elsa’s cubs again after this.
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