Crazy Presidential Pets

The trend for recent American presidents is to have a dog or two. The current president, love him or hate him, has two really cute Scotties (Barney is pictured). People--mostly the media--tend to make a big deal about presidential pets. Clinton's two pets, Sox the cat and Buddy the dog, were featured in multiple books.

The two presidential candidates are not exempt from the media's pet coverage. Everyone knows by now that Barack Obama, win or lose, is going to get his kids a puppy. And John McCain could start a small petting zoo. If McCain were to win, his menagerie would stand out compared to recent predecessors, but would be downright tame compared to some past presidents. Here are some of the more unique pets of past Commanders-in-Chief.

- Thomas Jefferson received two bear cubs from Lewis and Clark.
- John Quincy Adams had an alligator. It's too bad the White House didn't have a moat.
- Martin Van Buren had two tiger cubs, given to him by the Sultan of Oman.
- James Buchanan owned an eagle and a small herd of elephants--a gift from the King of Siam. He donated them to a local zoo.
- Teddy Roosevelt's ridiculous collection of pets included five bears, a flying squirrel, a raccoon, a coyote, a lion, a hyena, and a zebra.
- William Howard Taft, ironically, owned the last cow ever to live at the White House
- Calvin Coolidge had a small zoo that included an antelope, a bobcat, lion cubs, a pygmy hippo, and a bear.

Read more about presidential pets at FactMonster.com.

--Spanno

Comments

[Time Tracker on October 10, 2008 at 02:18 AM]

While I think Barney the scottie is very cute, I think Martin Van Buren's tiger cubs might take the cake as the best presidential pets ever!