Elsa the lioness

Elsa and her sisters were orphaned on 1 February 1956 after George Adamson was forced to kill their mother when she charged him, in defense of her three cubs.

Indeed, after sending the other two to a zoo, 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 early life’s story was published in the book Born Free.

However, before long Elsa became ill and died of a form of babesiosis, a tick-borne blood disease similar to malaria which often infects the cat family.

Jespah still had the arrow head in his side and the Adamsons made plans to bring along a vet and make another attempt to remove it.