The Wild Heart of Joy Adamson

1.

The Wild Heart of
Joy Adamson

2.

Joy Adamson (Friederike Victoria Gessner)
20 January 1910, Troppau, Austria-Hungary,
now Opava, Czeck Republic — 3 January 1980
Naturalist, author, artist, environmentalist.
She is known for her books in which she
described her life among wild animals in
Africa and her efforts to protect them from
poachers.

3.

Joy Adamson was born in the Czech Republic in the family of a rich manufacturer.
As a child she played lion hunt and she always got the role of a lioness. Even then,
she liked these beautiful strong animals.
The girl studied painting, playing the piano, needlework, and horse riding. She
spoke several languages, was fond of sculpture, metal crafts, carving wood figures,
photography, theatre along with psychoanalysis which was fashionable in those
years.

4.

The future writer often visited the Vienna Zoo and
traveled a lot observing animals. At the age of 27 she
came to Kenya that was a real paradise for naturalists at
that time. Elephants, lions, and antelopes were found
there literally at every turn.

5.

Joy fell in love with this country forever. Knowing no rest, she
traveled around the country and painted everything she saw:
plants, animals, people.
Many of her painting are featured in museums. The Royal
Horticultural Society of Great Britain awarded her the Grenfell
Gold Medal in 1947.

6.

In 1944 while on safari she met a British-Irish
game warden George Adamson who was in
love
with
Africa
and
its
nature.
“Do you hunt lions?» — she asked. «Only
cannibals,” he replied. “I am at peace with the
others.” That had done it and Joy became Mrs.
Adamson.

7.

In 1956 in the course of his job George Adamson had to hunt down and kill
the lion that was terrorizing several villages. He shot the lioness and took her
3 cubs home. The two largest cubs were passed on to be cared for by a zoo in
the Netherlands, and the smallest, Elsa, was raised by the couple.
Joy was determined to raise the
lioness as a human friend. Many
Kenyan plantation owners kept these
big cats, that were treated as
dangerous animals, in cages..

8.

Joy turned Elsa into a
member of the family. The
lioness ate, slept and walked
together with her and George.
She learnt it well that she
could not attack people. At
first the residents of the
neighboring town scattered
when Joy brought Elsa there,
then gradually they got used
to the unusual pet.

9.

Joy noticed with pain that the wildlife was stepping back under the onslaught of
poachers. Many people saw only one way to save rare animals – to keep them in
zoos where animals became completely dependent on humans.
Joy suggested raising endangered species in a zoo or nature reserve and then
returning them back to the wild. Maybe some day in future this practice will help
to overcome the conflict between animals and humans. Others said that a tame
animal would never find a place among the wild ones. Deprived of the necessary
skills, it would die.

10.

Joy Adamson decided to prove she
was right. When Elsa the lioness was
3 years old, Joy and George began to
gradually accustom her to freedom.
Elsa was taken further and further
away form the camp and set on
wounded animals to awaken her
hunting instincts. Many times Elsa
came back but after having met a
young lion left with him for the wild
life. A year later she returned to the
Adamsons with her three cubs.

11.

By that time George had left his job to devote
himself entirely to the study of lions. He was a
reserved person and didn’t want any publicity.
The first Kenyan newspaper journalist who
wanted to write about the amazing friendship
between humans and animals was simply kicked
out of the camp. But Joy understood that success
was possible only due to broad public support.
That is why she gave interviews, wrote articles
and in 1960 published the book Born Free that
became a bestseller and was translated into 28
languages.

12.

13.

In 1964, a film of the same name was
made, which won an Academy Award.

14.

On the wave of success Joy began to travel
around the world creating the Elsa Funds.
Millions of dollars raised were intended for one
purpose only - to save wild animals and return
them to their natural environment.

15.

In 1964 one of the British
officers leaving Kenya
suggested
that
the
Adamsons take a shecheetah that was raised in
his home. Pippa, as Joy
called the cheetah, was used
to her owners and they
couldn’t take her to distant
England.
It all began from the very
beginning — upbringing,
gradual habituation to the
wild life and then parting.
Later there were the rare
encounters with Pippa in the
wild, then her death from a
hunting
injury
and
upbringing her cubs.

16.

And as a result — another bestseller The Spotted Sphinx.

17.

Joy Adamson spent her time
traveling the world, giving
lectures and raising money for
the Elsa Funds. She used this
money to create nature reserves.
In Kenya alone, Joy founded 4
nature reserves.

18.

19.

Joy Adamson’s last bestseller became an
autobiography called Wild Heart. Such a name of the
book was explained by the famous writer and
naturalist Garrett Patterson, “This woman’s heart was
always full of love for wildlife and its creatures
and this love resonated in the hearts of millions.”

20.

Today, the work of the
Adamsons is continued by their
followers, many of whom came
to Africa after reading Joy’s
books.