RAMSDEN Brewery heiress Diana Myburgh adopted Jasper, a Doberman-Labrador mix, after spotting him emaciated and unloved at Battersea Dogs Home. When she died, she left him £25,000. Jasper now lives in a 500-hectare estate, travels in a stretch limo and eats sirloin steak, fresh mussels and Dover sole.
ANIMAL BENEFACTORSGerman countess Karlotta Liebenstein is said to have left German shepherd Gunther III £60m, which was passed on to his son and heir Gunther IV. Agents acting on Gunter IV's behalf bought Madonna's eight-bedroom Mi
ami villa for £5m and paid £1,000 for a rare white truffle at an auction in Turin. A website dedicated to the dog shows him living a decadent lifestyle but some people insist the whole story is a hoax.
Aberdonian felines Top Cat and Mathilda joined the ranks of the wealthy in 2004 when their owner Patricia Mugilstone, a retired librarian, died, leaving them £10,000 each. But as Leona Helmsley's dog Trouble is quickly finding out, having a wealthy benefactor can be a curse as well as a blessing. Since inheriting several million in her mistress's will, the 'rich bitch' has received several death threats and now needs round-the-clock security, costing $100,000 a year.
SAYING I DOMany people cite their animals as their soulmates but only a handful feel strongly enough to commit. A few years ago, a Jerry Springer show special was cancelled because the story it told – about a man who 'married' his horse – was considered too shocking for US viewers. The man later featured in a Channel 4 documentary, where he talked in graphic detail about the bond he shared with his mare.
Millionaire Sharon Tendler, from London, 'married' Cindy, a male dolphin, at an aquarium in Eilat, Israel, in a tongue-in-cheek ceremony in 2005. Dressed in a white dress, a veil and with pink flowers in her hair, she offered Cindy fish and the dolphin 'kissed' her.
But not everyone who pledges themselves to an animal marries for love. In February 2006, a Mr Tombe from Sudan was forced into a shotgun wedding with a neighbour's goat after he was caught having sex with it. And Selva Kumar married a sari-draped bitch called Selvi after an astrologer told him the ceremony could help lift the 'curse' he brought upon himself by clubbing two dogs to death when he was 18.
PET PRIORITIESThere are a plethora of surveys which reveal the extent to which we put our pets first. In 2003, for example, an ICM poll commissioned by the BBC found just 53% of those questioned would intervene or call the police if their partner was being abused, but 78% would do so if their dog was the victim. Another found that nearly as many (33%) agreed "the English love their dogs more than their children" as vice versa (40%). And sentiments are just as strong across the Atlantic. A recent Fox News poll found 46% of those questioned thought poisoning a pet was just as serious or even more serious than poisoning a person.
CELEBRITIES AND THEIR PETSThe most famous celebrity animal-lover is probably Brigitte Bardot. She became a vegetarian in 1986 and auctioned off jewellery to establish her Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. Bardot once had a neighbour's donkey castrated on the grounds of its "sexual harassment" of her own donkey and mare.
Carla Lane, who wrote the Liver Birds and Bread, cares for 1,000 animals, including donkeys, badgers, bats and emus at her £4m mansion in Sussex (although she recently put it up for sale). Lane feeds her charges a slap-up meal every day, and teaches them sign language when they grow deaf.
The former Gretna Football Club sugar daddy Brooks Mileson is another who has used his money to look after animals. The pony-tailed chain smoker has a sanctuary for ostriches, emus, wallabies, monkeys, pigs and goats on his estate in Cumbria.
Socialite Paris Hilton's passion for dogs, however, has won her more criticism than praise. She has been accused of treating her Chihuahua, Tinkerbell, as an accessory, dressing her up in matching outfits. In 2005, Hilton was voted worst dog owner in a poll by The New York Dog and the Hollywood Dog.
Scots actor Gerard Butler, star of the historical epic 300, has recently come out as a dog lover. The former Glasgow law student is often seen in Hollywood's trendiest haunts with Lolita the Pug.
MOST EXPENSIVE PET WEDDINGWhen two rare 'diamond-eyed' Siamese cats Phet and Ploy struck up a special relationship, their owners thought they should seal the deal with a lavish wedding. Wearing matching pink outfits, the cats tied the knot at a ceremony at Thailand's biggest discotheque in 1996.
The groom Phet was flown in by helicopter, while the bride Ploy arrived in a Rolls Royce. A parrot was the best man, an iguana the matron of honour and there was hardly a dry eye amongst the 500 human guests. The $16,000 cost of the wedding was topped by a dowry of $23,000 and the 500 guests gave the cats a further $60,000 in gifts.
THE DOGGY OUTFITTERSLara Alameddine and Daniel Dubiecki began making booties for dogs after one of their Toy Yorkies, Lily, cut her paw on a piece of glass and they could not find a shoe small enough to cover the wound. They quickly realised they had discovered a niche in the market as dog-owners in their home city of Los Angeles queued up to buy the designer footwear. Soon the couple moved into clothing and the Little Lily brand now boasts everything from sportswear to party frocks and leather shoes to mini-Ugg boots at more than 200 stores around the world.
Warner Bros has also launched a range of dog clothes that includes a $2,000 satin coat studded with Swarovski crystals and lined in pink silk.
PET REHABILITATIONThe tragic death of six-year-old Kaitlyn Hassard in Long Island, New York, when she was accidentally strangled by the family's golden retriever Jessy in 2006 took a strange twist when instead of having the dog put down, the Hassards sent her to an animal shelter for assessment and "therapy" from animal behavioural experts.
Within the week, the animal shelter had received 110 telephone calls from families wanting to adopt her. The centre whittled them down to three, who were all interviewed. Jessy sat in on the interviewing process before being handed over to the successful candidate.
A TOUCH OF LUXURYIt is now possible to give your pet a taste of the high life with air-conditioned outdoor homes and indoor 'home entertainment systems', which are a bit like animal soft play areas. You can check them into four-star pet hotels such as the Pet Inn Royal at Narita International Airport in Japan where, for $170 a night, they can have a luxury suite, a personal trainer and room service.
Or how about treating the special animal in your life to a pamper day? Urban Dog, a Toronto fitness spa, boasts cushioned athletic flooring, fresh filtered water, a hydrosurge therapeutic pet-bathing system, sandblasted glass doors and play areas. A company called Precious Palaces also makes designer beds for pets, including a home modelled on Marie Antoinette's original 18th-century kennel design, handcrafted in walnut.
THE DONKEY SANCTUARY CONTROVERSYEarlier this year, a report by New Philanthropy Capital caused outrage when it revealed more money had been donated to the Devon Donkey Sanctuary in 2006 (£20m) than to the top three women's aid charities combined (£17m). The charity has improved conditions for the donkeys it cares for so effectively, it has extended their life expectancy from 27 to 50 years. It also campaigns for the rights of beach donkeys, ensuring they do not have to carry excessive weight and get the breaks they are entitled to.
The full article contains 1331 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
