Ecorazzi

Quick: What’s the most uplifting thing you’ve seen all year? Your child speaking his/her first word, a poem on the back of a Starbucks cup, a Dr. Phil episode? Unless any of the first thoughts that crossed your mind also involved a hugging lion reunited with this adopted parents, then they pale in comparison.

Of course I’m kidding. (But not really.)

The story and subsequent video of John Rendall and “Ace” Bourke’s reunion with the lion cub they rescued, raised, and then returned to the wild is as amazing as it is heartbreaking. A year after saying goodbye to Christian and setting him free, they thought they might return and check in on their friend. Everyone said that it was too dangerous, that the lion was now the head of his own pride and fully acclimated back into the wild. What happened instead, was incredible.

“It is pretty extraordinary footage and quite humbling. But it is sort of very beautiful, the response,” Bourke told Vieira on the Today Show. “I suppose, 35 years later, to find that people are so fascinated by it and have so enjoyed it, is slightly overwhelming … and all the comments on the YouTube site, they’re so positive. It is marvelous that so many people are getting so much enjoyment out of it.”

You can read their full story here — and visit the foundation they setup as a result of their experience with Christian by visiting here.