Jim, this exhibit is pictured on the Nairobi National Museum site and labeled "Asian Heritage -man eaters of Tsavo." I always assumed the exhibit at the Chicago Natural History Museum was "THE" Tsavo brothers. Has somebody over in your neighborhood decided that they were Asian lions, and a male and a female? I am just curious and appreciate any information you may know.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
For Jim Stockley--Maneaters of Tsavo????
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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7 comments:
from: Jim Stockley
Hello Wade, As far as I know the two man-eaters that Patterson shot are still in Chicago, although I have heard that the Kenyan Government would like them returned to Nairobi to aid their ailing tourism industry?
Perhaps the "Asian Heritage" label refers to the large number of Asian workers on "the Lunatic Line" that the man-eaters ate?
There is a very interesting article on the Tsavo lions at
www.man-eater.info/gpage6.html
kind regards
Jim
Jim,
Thank you for the information. If the "ailing tourism industry" feels a couple of lion carcasses is going to get it back on track, I suggest they are in worse trouble then they think. I would also think that "Asian Heritage" in reference to numbers "eaten" points to some type of racism. LOL
Wade
from Jim Stockley
Hello Wade. Regarding Man-Eaters and Kenya's Wildlife Tourism - Over the years I have heard many (unsupported) anecdotes of the famous "Born Free" lioness 'Elsa' being put down for eating people (mostly camp cleaners!). I read this letter (below) to "Man Magnum" magazine a while back which confirms that Elsa was poisoned and the killing 'covered up' to prevent damage to Kenya's Tourism.....
from "Letters to the Editor":
When I wrote about the demise of Elsa (Jan ’06 edition) I ended by saying “a can of worms I fear”. Adrian House’s letter (“Elsa not man-eater”, May issue) proves me to be correct. But he is writing about Elsa when she was under Joy Adamson’s control, I am not. I knew William Hale and all east African professional hunters knew Ian Grimwood. I am sure they all read and approved of Adrian House’s book.
Later, when Elsa was fending for herself and her cubs in the wild, but having no fear of humans, she chose the easy way out. Lion had been vermin in Kenya for many years and were shot on sight, hence had an inbred fear of humans; Elsa had none. Ken Randal was not dreaming when he was shown the half eaten body of the game scout, and was told by the other game scout that he could not shoot the lioness, as it was Elsa that they were supposed to protect. When Ken informed the game department, he was told not to touch anything, they were on their way, and after removing the game scout’s remains, they replaced it with game meat which Elsa later ate. Shortly after that, the game department announced that Elsa had died of worms!
The game scout was sworn to secrecy and Ken was told not to talk about what he had seen. I visited Ken in his catching camps, at which time we both shared the same sorrow of knowing our loved ones had terminal cancer, so he confided in me on condition I told no one. (Ken’s livelihood depended on licences obtained from the game department.) It was not until 35 years later, having read Harry Selby’s remarks in Magnum on man-eaters that I broke my silence.
As a farmer and hunter in Kenya and having been a hunter in other African countries, I have never heard of an indigenous animal dying of tick fever (ECF) to which they are supposed to be immune. Pictures in the Kenya press of Elsa and her siblings (when Elsa was going to Joy Adamson and the others to zoos), showed that they were about 14 inches high at the withers; I have watched and filmed lion cubs half that size eating at the remains of a kill.
The Kenya game department did not want the truth known, as they were afraid the money coming in from Elsa’s fame would dry up. Unfortunately the one person from the game department who would confirm this, the late Rodney Elliot, with whom I first hunted in 1947, passed on to the happy hunting grounds in December 2005. It was said of Rodney, “He would take his own mother to court for breaking the game laws in his area.” Rodney did not go along with the story of Elsa dying of worms. Rodney was the last European Senior Warden to leave the department and was quite willing to talk about the cover-up. It appears Adrian House was completely taken in by it.
John Northcote,
Zimbabwe
Jim,
I had heard rumors of Elsa being a man eater a number of years ago, but never had it so well confirmed. Thank you. I as a rule find it easier to believe something hand raised has an easy time of it turning into a man eater, having dealt with felines for over 30 years.
Most who have never dealt closely with them, find it difficult if not impossible to believe that anything "raised like a baby" would grow up to be anything but. The find it easy to believe it "loves you", but can't conceive of the concept of it "loosing it's fear of you." The current Animal Planet TV program we have in the States, if filled with weekly stories propagating the myth of "you can love the death out of a wild animal."
Thank you,
Wade
Wade, thank you for this information about Elsa's death. I had not heard this before reading it here, and it is shocking and horrifying, but not surprising when one thinks about it. In the mid- '90's I read three books about Elsa:
A. The Story Of Elsa, by Joy Adamson. This one is a condensation of Born Free, Living Free, and Forever Free. I own a copy of this book.
B. My Pride and Joy, by George Adamson.
C. The Great Safari, by Adrian House.
I have been revisiting these three works. All three mention the deportation order for Elsa and her year-old cub delivered on Christmas Eve, Elsa's agonizing illness, the details of her death; and the fact that the Senior Veterinary Officer from Isiolo, John MacDonald arrived soon after Elsa died, removed various organs for a postmortem, and helped George bury her body before Joy returned.
Adrian House writes that "John MacDonald sent the organs for analysis in a laboratory at Kabete, but they were held up on the way and decomposed. With this evidence destroyed, a rumor spread that Elsa might have been poisoned. However, the Adamsons had sent blood samples to Nairobi, which proved conclusively that that Elsa died of babesia felis, a tick-borne fever."
However, neither Joy nor George mention anything about blood samples in their books. In fact, Joy says "I was so convinced that the maggots were responsible for her condition that I never thought of taking a blood slide and having it analysed to see whether she had any other infection."
So, the body was buried, the organs decomposed, and non-existent blood samples proved conclusively that Elsa died of tick fever? What a cover-up! And how sad! A quick bullet to the brain would have been far kinder than what she got.
Mary Ann
Mary Ann,
And thank you for the information. I will wager that a year ago, "a bullet to the head", would have met with an outcry from you, without the big picture. I will reference again, a Waylon Jennings lyric, to think about when you are reading "feel good" animal stories or watching movies, Mary Ann. "Be careful of something that's just what you want it to be." I'll bet real soon, you are going to start loving and appreciating animals, more and in a different and more reverent/awe inspired way, then you ever thought possible. Accepting them fully and completely for WHAT they are.
Wade
Mary Ann,
We should also thank Mr. Jim Stockley. Note, he is a professional who has spent his life living with animals. I may be wrong, but I imagine the self serving statements, "they are my family" and "they are like my children" probably choke him also.
Wade
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