Yesterday was Christmas Eve.

Me and grand daughter of Olga were watching a book about African fauna. I adore that unique world and know much about it. So I told little lady about animals on colourful photos.

She, charmed and excited by beauty of lions, said:

– I want them to live in my house!

And here I talked her, how precious is freedom for wild beast, how gorgeous is a free animal and how miserable – imprisoned. How fragile they are and how easily they can disappear.

I hope the girl will remember what I said.

And then words from books I read a year ago came onto my mind:

“His neb freezed in scary grin, his body stopped in unnatural pose. Price to that – three thousand rands. While the “cover” of a lion you can estimate, a lion alive, it seems, costs nothing. Isn’t it weird that a masterpiece created by a human is favored as a halidom while a lion – masterpiece of nature much earlier than humankind – is demolished for fun?” (Gareth Patterson)

 

“Once in the evening we saw a magestic lioness sitting on the rock and viewing plains around. She was shaped by light of sunset and seemed to be a part of granite rock, on which she lay on. I fell into a muse – how many lions were laying on this rock for countless centuries passed from that moment when humankind was still in a cradle. Thinking about that i noticed – how can a civilized person, while spending treasures in attempt to preserve old buildings and pieces of art created by human’s hand, destroy creatures who are implementation of eternal beauty and grace? And he does that to boast his courage, got with the help of use of weapons created for killing a man, or for the fell which he tries to ornate with his home lacking beauty”. (George Adamson)

I wish my children will have chance to hear a roar of lion. Of a free lion.