Cats do have legitimate emotions and form long-lasting attachments to "two-leggers". You were truly honored.

Heh, I can't wait to see her be released, it makes me wonder if - in a true Christian the Lion moment - she'd remember me? On the final day I got to walk with her alone back to their enclosure. She headrubbed me 3 times in 30 seconds before I gave her a long petting along her body, let go of her tail to finish, and never saw her again. I admit I cried a couple of minutes later: didn't seem right to in front of her.

The petting and head rubs were love exchanged from both you and her. And no, she would not understand your sorrow at parting -- because, like Christian the lion, she carries you inside her now. And like a parent seeing a child grow up and go off into the adult world, seeing her released into the wild is going to be a bittersweet moment for you.

I wish you both well.
*still remembers Joy Adamson’s Elsa*

Now don't recall the Born Free story too well. Before they became known for saving a single lion in the most controversial way possible, they slaughtered plentiful more as "professional" safari hunters. For both professions they've been remembered as heroes. :(

I only remember Elsa as a beautiful "person" WHO introduced me to the world of lions -- and memtioned Joy's name for those who might not have read the book and might have been wondering "Who the heck is 'Elsa'?"

Heh, I think I prefer my introduction to lions a little more... the lions I still work with today at Dartmoor Zoological Park. I knew, and loved lions before I even saw one as a child, but it took actually meeting one face to face to make them my aim in conservation, and even to unlock my belief in therianthropy.