Ban Ki-Moon, leader of the United Nations, adopted a lion cub on June 28 during a visit to the Kenyan capital of Kenya. The cub is just six months old, and lives at the Nairobi National Park.
The U.N. leader named the young lion Tumaini, the Kiswahili word for "hope."
"I adopted this lion cub in the hope that all human beings and wildlife can live in peace and harmony as human beings should know how to live harmoniously with our mother nature," Moon said.
Tumaini is a female, discovered abandoned in the park in December. Park officials waited three days for her parents to return, but they never did come back for the young cub.
This is the third animal adopted by Moon since he became United Nations leader at the start of 2007.
"I was given by President Salva Kiir a bull which was named jokingly at that time Ban Ki Moo. Then when I visited Mongolia I was given a very precious rare species of a horse and I named it Peace. Now I have three animals, a bull, horse and finally a lion," Moon told an assembled crowd at the park.
Moon presented the park with a check for over $8,000, funding that will help support the wildlife refuge for three years. The facility is the largest wildlife refuge near a nation's capital city. It lies less than five miles from Nairobi's downtown district, a urban area with over three million residents.
In addition to lions, other animals at the park include cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, wildebeest, and 400 species of birds.
"It is my sincere hope that this lion will grow healthy and strong and even fierce and be able to have her own cubs in the near future to make this wildlife rich and healthy," Moon told reporters.
The United Nations recently wrapped up the first U.N. Environment Assembly. This was the highest-level meeting of leaders ever assembled by the group, focused on the environment. The U.N. Environment Program is headquartered in Nairobi, and more than 1,200 people from 193 nations convened there from June 23 - 27.
Usain Bolt, considered by many sports officials to be the fastest runner alive, and former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga have also adopted lion cubs in the park. The athlete named his adopted feline Lightning Bolt, while the Odinga calls his animal ward Agwambo, the Dholuo word for power or king.
Capital FM Kenya released a video showing the world leader being coaxed into meeting - and petting - the adopted lion.
