It is the search that is gripping the US nation: which pooch will president-elect Barack Obama choose to be the White House puppy?
A pampered life awaits the dog that gets the nod, what with the run of the 132-room White House and its spacious gardens. Then there's the presidential jet Air Force One to look forward to. A trip to the countryside will never be the same again.
Not that life is going to be easy, what with all those photo shoots and life lived in the public eye. Nothing less than a shiny coat and perfect teeth will do. The press can be so cruel on those bad hair days. And "cavorting" with other canines will definitely be out.
But let's not play down the job's advantages. Mr Obama says that he is ideally looking for a mutt from a shelter home: a rags to riches story that sums up the American dream.
However, it won't be the first pet to embark on a life of luxury and excess. Here are some of the richest animals ever to have walked this earth.
1. Gunther IV - Germen Shepherd
Worth: £90 million
German Countess Karlotta Liebenstein left a staggering fortune of 139 million German marks (about £43 million) to her beloved pet dog Gunther III when she died in 1991. When Gunter III died, the fortune passed to his offspring – imaginatively named Gunther IV – who used it, through a mysterious group of human beings, to, among other things, buy Madonna’s eight-bedroom villa in Miami. Gunther’s property portfolio is also said to include estates in the Bahamas, Italy and Germany and is estimated to be worth £90 million.
A website dedicated to the pampered Alsatian shows him living the Playboy mansion lifestyle. There are photos of Gunther splashing around in swimming pools while bikini-clad women and bronzed muscle men look on adoringly. Read the accompanying text and it gets even weirder. These “five gifted youngsters” it informs you are the Burgundians, the “most talented among a selected group of boys and girls of international origin endowed with special features, beauty, intelligence and independence”.
You couldn't make it up, or maybe you could. Some cynics have questioned whether it is all just an elaborate hoax. Make your own mind up by taking a look at Gunther's website
2. Toby Rimes - Poodle
Worth: £45 million
Toby Rimes, worth the equivalent of £45m in dollars, is a descendant of a pooch left £15m in New York in 1931.
3. Kalu - Chimpanzee
Worth: £42.5 million
Kalu, a chimpanzee, was adopted by Patricia O’Neill, daughter of the Countess of Kenmore, after she found her tied to a tree in Zaire. On her death Mrs O'Neill stunned her husband, the former Australian swimming champion Frank, by leaving her entire estate near Cape Town, South Africa, to Kalu. She said she couldn’t bear the thought of what might happen to the chimp after she died. All together now- Awwwww.
4. Pepe le Pew, Ani and Frankie – Two cats and a Chihuahua
Worth: £18 million
Chihuahua Frankie and cats Ani and Pepe Le Pew each had a third of a San Diego mansion worth around £10 million left to them. The reclusive millionairess who granted them the house also left £8.1million in cash for the three to share. I wonder what they've spent it on - Tuna sachets and dog bones?
5. Flossie – Labrodor mix
Worth: £3 million
Drew Barrymore, the actor (above), placed a £3 million Beverly Hills mansion in trust for her dog, Flossie, in 2002 after it woke up her and husband, Tom Green, in time to escape from a house fire. As the blaze caught hold in the early hours of the morning, Drew's faithful dog ran upstairs and banged on their bedroom door with its tail to alert them to the danger.
6. Trouble - Maltese Terrier
Worth: £1.1million
New York hotel magnate Leona Helmsley, dubbed the "Queen of Mean" during a 1989 trial for tax evasion, left $12 million of her estimated $8 billion estate for the upkeep of her Maltese terrier Trouble. Two of her four grandchildren meanwhile got nothing. Unsurprisingly, the request by Helmsley, famous for her quip that "only the little people pay taxes," sparked nothing but trouble. After the will was contested, the pooch, who was spoon fed gourmet foods by maids, was stripped of $10 million by a Manhattan judge. Fortunately the $2 million left is enough to keep Trouble in the lap of luxury. The mutt's annual expenses come in at $190,000, including $100,000 for round-the-clock security, $60,000 for his guardianship fee, $8,000 for grooming and $1,200 for food.
7. Tinker - Cat
Worth: £450,000
Tinker, an eight-year-old cat from North London, inherited a £450,000 fortune after Margaret Layne, an elderly widow who found him as a stray, left him a three-bedroom house in Harrow and a £100,000 trust fund. Her will makes clear that the black cat, aged about eight, should not stray again. "If Tinker abandons the property permanently the trustees shall at their discretion be entitled to bring the trust to an end," says the will.
8. Tina and Kate - Collie crosses
Worth: £450,000
Tina and Kate, owned by Nora Hardwell, were left £450,000, the run of their owner’s home and five acres in Peasedown, St John, near Bath. The will also demanded that a carer must be employed to look after the two dogs, and that the house must be kept clean at all times.
9. Silverstone - tortoise - and friends
Worth: £100,000 plus
Silverstone the tortoise and a number of cats were provided for from the £59million estate of Christina Foyle, the late owner of Foyle's bookshop in London. When she died in 1999 Ms Foyle left the cats a house in Essex and £100,000 to her handyman to look after the tortoise.
10. The Queen Mum's collection of livestock
Worth: £8,000 each
150 Aberdeen Angus cattle and 200 North Country Cheviot sheep were the beneficiaries of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's will. She left a £3 million trust to protect the herds on the Castle of Mey Farm which is shared with a collection of goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits and two lovebirds. Each is worth about £8,000. Good on you, ma'am.
(http://timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2008/11/the-worlds-10-m.html)
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