When was the first lion found?

For hundreds of years prior, the white lion had been thought to be a figment of a legend circulating in South Africa, the white color of the animal said to represent the goodness in all creatures. Sightings were first reported in the early 1900s, and continued, infrequently, for almost fifty years until, in 1975, a litter of white lion cubs was found at Timbavati Game Reserve.