With My Soul Amongst Lions (U) (Ulverscroft Large Print Series) - Hardcover

Patterson, Gareth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0708937403 ISBN 13: 9780708937402

Publisher: Ulverscroft, 1997

Synopsis

When George Adamson was murdered, Gareth Patterson vowed to continue his work. He successfully cared for and restored George's lion cubs, who were once again orphaned, into the wild. Batian, Furaha and Rafiki became his life's work and he became one of their pride. Gareth prepared them for all the dangers they might face, but unfortunately could never completely guard them from their most lethal enemy - man. Too soon Batian, the pride male, became the victim of a cruel and premeditated murder, leaving the other lions facing equal dangers.

About this title

About the Author

Gareth Patterson

Author, Speaker, Independent Wildlife Researcher

www.garethpatterson.com

Award-winning wildlife expert, author and public speaker, Gareth Patterson, is known internationally for his efforts to greater protect the lions and elephants of Africa. His wildlife work has featured widely in the media, books and in documentaries. Patterson told of his life with the famous Adamson lions, which he returned to the wilds after the murder of Born Free legend George Adamson, in the books, Last of the Free and With My Soul Amongst Lions (Hodder & Stoughton). His books have been published in many editions and languages worldwide.

It was Patterson who investigated, then exposed, South Africa’s sordid canned lion hunting industry (the killing for sport of captive raised lions, shot in restricted fenced areas) as shown on The Cook Report internationally. Facing death threats and other intimidation, Patterson then wrote two books on his findings, Dying to be Free (Viking Penguin 1998) and Making a Killing (Captive Animals Protection Society 1999).

The Secret Elephants, Patterson’s latest book (released in October 2009 by Penguin Global) tells of his eight-year odyssey to uncover truths about the world’s most southerly elephants, the elusive and highly endangered Knysna elephants of the southern Cape, South Africa. The Secret Elephants has recently been long listed for the Alan Paton Literary Award 2010.

Patterson was the recipient of the Operation Survival Award and of the prestigious Cape Times Environmental Award. He has been an adjudicator for the SAB Environmental Journalist of the Year Awards.

The Search for the Knysna Elephants, a documentary about Patterson’s findings on these remarkable elephants has been screened repeatedly on Animal Planet in 2009 and 2010. He is continuing his research on the elephants, as well as undertaking field work on the existence of another mysterious denizen of the southern Cape, the previously unknown about coastal leopards.

The Gareth Patterson Wildlife Foundation has recently been established, and marks Patterson’s twenty-fifth year of involvement in the greater protection of African wildlife.

A highly self-motivated person who lives by the adage ‘Never give up’, Patterson delivers inspiring presentations and talks drawn from his life and experiences.Visit Gareth’s website: www.garethpatterson.com

From Kirkus Reviews

In this raw-edged sequel to his Last of the Free (1995), Patterson updates readers on the fate of his lion cohorts in the southern African bushlands. When last heard from, Patterson was deep in the Botswanan wilds at his camp on the Tuli Lion Trust, there to return to nature three lions (of the Born Free troupe) he had brought down from Kenya. As readers again cross his path, Patterson recounts how one of his charges has recently fallen to illegal ``sports,'' lured off protected ground and shot under the least sporting of conditions. Patterson's sadness and frustration are exacerbated by the owners of the trustlands, who feel that his writings on the lions' plight may subject their holdings to nationalization by the Botswanan government. On the owners' heels come the poachers and the farmers who kill lions for culling their herds. From an unexpected quarter, his work is broadsided by a clutch of scientists who, chanting the purity-of-race mantra, disapprove of the interbreeding of Kenyan and Botswanan prides. Marshalling on, Patterson charts the progress of the lions, lays bare his private life, gives readers an earful of his encounters with spitting cobras and neurotoxic scorpions sharing his special patch of earth, laces the narrative with suggestions on how to cushion the meeting of human and beast: deterrent fencing, the environmental education of local youth, beefed-up patrols. The book closes with one of the remaining lions accused of killing a man. She is shot, along with her cubs. Patterson is appalled and builds a strong case that illegal ivory traders were the culprits. Patterson may overplay his grizzled gruffness and suffer on occasion from spiritual bloat, but he's the real potato when it comes to the Tuli lions. Spurning his advice would only be folly. (16 pages photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ulverscroft
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0708937403
• ISBN 13: 9780708937402
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384