Saturday 27 December 2014

Politicians and their pets

As Owen Paterson admits he owned a badger as a child, we look at other politicians and their pets.

Chechnya dictator Ramzan Kadyrov's Instagram becomes web hit
Mr Kadyrov, left, pets a tiger. Right Vladimir Putin with a tiger in 2008 Photo: AFP

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson, has defended the controversial badger cull taking place, by stating that he cared for two badgers as a child and wanted to see “healthy badgers living alongside healthy cattle” and that the cull aimed to control TB and would therefore benefit badgers and cattle.

Whilst it may be difficult to imagine a politician with an unusual pet, in this case, two badgers, there have been many politicians, past and present, with odd collections of animals.

Ken Livingstone

The ex-Mayor of London and British Labour Party politician was fascinated by reptiles and amphibians at Tulse Hill Comprehensive School, and decided to keep several of these animals as pets. His mother grew concerned at the amount of time he would spend with “his pet lizard” rather than focusing on his school work.

Ken Livingstone kept a lizard

Barack Obama

The President of the United States of America moved to Indonesia in 1967, with his stepfather and mother. During his time living in Jakarta, young Barack Obama kept a pet ape named Tata.

Barack Obama used to own an ape. Now he has two dogs.

Benito Mussolini

Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, enjoyed being portrayed as an alpha-male, and would try to portray macho mannerisms by being seen to practice sports such as fencing, motorcar racing, skiing, horse riding, swimming and lion taming. A photograph from 1924 shows him being driven whilst holding his pet lion cub in his arms.

Mussolini had a pet lion cub

Calvin Coolidge

Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, owned a collection of animals so varied, it could only be described as a zoo, during his term at the White House. He owned a pygmy hippopotamus named Billy, two racoons called Rebecca and Horace, a goose named Enoch, a donkey called Ebenezer and a bobcat name Smoky. The zoo also had a goose, a black bear, an antelope, lion cubs, canaries and naturally, a wallaby.

Coolidge owned a huge collection of animals

Harry Truman

Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, is known predominantly for assuming the presidency after Roosevelt died and for his involvement in the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A lesser known fact about Truman is that he owned a Boa Constrictor which he named Monster Jungle X-Ray.

Truman had a Boa Constrictor

William Howard Taft

The 27th President of the United States and later 10th Chief Justice of the United States, owned a cow named Pauline, which would graze around the White House grounds and provide Taft with milk and other dairy products.

Taft kept a cow named Pauline

Vladimir Putin

The current President of Russia, Vladimir Putin owns a black Labrador dog called Koni, which attends Putin’s meetings with world leaders. In 2008 however, Putin was surprised on his 56th birthday with the present of a 20lb, two-month-old female Siberian tiger cub. Interestingly he refused to comment on who the present was from, but confirmed that it would be housed in a Zoo or an appropriate wildlife reserve.

Putin was given a tiger cub for his birthday in 2008.

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, had to combat the Great Depression which followed the Wall Street Crash, which incidentally occurred 8 months after he took office. The fact that he kept two alligators as pets has often gone unnoticed due to the turmoil the country’s economy was in.

Hoover's son had two alligators as pets

Ramzan Kadyrov

Ramzan Kadyrov is the Head of the Chechen Republic and a former Chechen rebel who lead the militia known as the Kadyrovites. Kadyrov has owned as pets various animals including an ostrich, a wolf, a bear, a tiger and a lion. Unsurprsingly Kadyrov’s Instagram account went viral, gaining a huge following, as it featured many photographs of Kadyrov posing with various animals, working out in the gym, dining with Gerard Depardieu and other photographs.

Kadyrov has been pictured with many animals

Theodore Roosevelt

The 26th President of the United States was well known for his exuberant personality, a wide range of activities and successes. Roosevelt also had the biggest collection of animals the White House has ever seen in his role as President of United States, as he too would try and portray a macho image and a tough, cowboy persona. Roosevelt owned a badger called Josiah, a pony named Atgonquin, a Blue Macaw called Eli Yale, a one-legged rooster, dogs, cats and guinea pigs. Roosevelt also owned a summer house in Long Island at which he kept a zebra, hyenas, lions and bears.

Roosevelt (left) kept a virtual zoo at his house in Long Island

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