Elsa The Lioness - Life

Life

While Elsa lived in many ways like a domesticated pet when she was small, Joy Adamson, whom Elsa trusted the most, considered her relationship with Elsa to be that of equals. Indeed, Joy was fiercely determined to give Elsa the education she needed to hunt and live in the wild. Her efforts paid off, earning Elsa worldwide fame at the time, when her life's story, up to this point, was published in the book Born Free. When Elsa was three years old, she brought three cubs of her own to show to the Adamsons, whom the Adamsons named "Jespah" (male), "Gopa" (male), and "Little Elsa" (female). The life of Elsa and her cubs is covered in the book, Living Free, published not long afterwards.

Elsa's life was cut short, however, when she succumbed to Babesia felis, a form of babesiosis, a tick-borne blood disease somewhat similar in character to malaria, which often infects members of the cat family. Elsa's grave is located in the Meru National Park. Her death occurred as local sentiment began to turn against Elsa and her cubs, forcing the Adamsons to consider relocation for the cubs. Elsa's death made her cubs much more averse to human contact, even with the Adamsons themselves, complicating what would be their capture and ultimate release in the Serengeti. The fate of the cubs upon their release was uncertain, though George Adamson was able to find Little Elsa alive, healthy, and in the company of two other unrelated lions during 19 months of subsequent searching. Though this was the last that the Adamsons would ever see one of Elsa's cubs, they hoped that Elsa's descendants would continue to live on in the Serengeti.