Happy President’s Day, everyone!
To commemorate the day, enjoy these fun presidential pet trivia.
- Over 200 animals have made their home at the White House
- George Washington named his dogs Drunkard, Taster, Tipsy, Tipler and Sweetlips.
- President Coolidge’s wife had a Raccoon named Rebecca.
- Both George Washington and James Madison’s wives, Martha and Dolly, respectively, had parrots.
- Thomas Jefferson had a pet mockingbird.
- John Quincy Adams had one of the most dangerous pets: an alligator that had been gifted to him by the Marquis de Lafayette. His wife, Louisa, kept silkworms as pets.
- Rutherford Hayes, in a way, introduced the Siamese cat breed to America, since he was the first to own one of the exotic cats.
- Theodore Roosevelt practically had a zoo on the White House grounds. Most notably: snakes, badger, lion, hyena, zebra, and five bears. And that is not counting the “normal” pets, like the dogs, cats, horses, birds, rats and guinea pigs.
- Woodrow Wilson had sheep as groundskeepers. They took care of the grass, but who took care of the sheep droppings?
