WBadger culling in the United Kingdom is permitted under licence, within a set area and timescale, as a way to reduce badger numbers in the hope of controlling the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
WThe Brown Dog affair was a political controversy about vivisection that raged in Britain from 1903 until 1910. It involved the infiltration by Swedish feminists of University of London medical lectures; pitched battles between medical students and the police; police protection for the statue of a dog; a libel trial at the Royal Courts of Justice; and the establishment of a Royal Commission to investigate the use of animals in experiments. The affair became a cause célèbre that divided the country.
WMarlon Bundo, also known as Bunny of the United States (BOTUS), is a rabbit, belonging to the family of Mike Pence, the 48th and former Vice President of the United States.
WCacareco (1954-1962) was a female black rhinoceros exhibited in Brazilian zoos. She is known for receiving many votes in the 1958 São Paulo city council elections as a form of protest vote. Electoral officials did not accept Cacareco's candidacy, but she eventually won 100,000 votes, more than any other party in that same election. The term "voto Cacareco" is commonly used to describe protest votes in Brazil.
WThe Checkers speech or Fund speech was an address made on September 23, 1952, by California Senator Richard Nixon, six weeks before the 1952 United States presidential election, in which he was the Republican candidate for Vice President. Nixon had been accused of improprieties relating to a fund established by his backers to reimburse him for his political expenses. His place was in doubt on the Republican ticket, so he flew to Los Angeles and delivered a half-hour television address in which he defended himself, attacked his opponents, and urged the audience to contact the Republican National Committee (RNC) to tell it whether he should remain on the ticket. During the speech, he stated that he intended to keep one gift, regardless of the outcome: a black-and-white Cocker Spaniel that his children had named Checkers, thus giving the address its popular name.
WIncitatus was the favourite horse of Roman Emperor Caligula. According to legend, Caligula planned to make the horse a consul. Incitatus voted on the Senate by defecating on the floor and kicking it at the other consuls.
WThe Jimmy Carter rabbit incident, sensationalized as a "killer rabbit attack" by the press, also known as the "1979 Jimmy Carter rabbit incident", involved a swamp rabbit that swam toward then–U.S. President Jimmy Carter's fishing boat on April 20, 1979. The incident caught the imagination of the media after Carter's press secretary, Jody Powell, mentioned the event to a correspondent months later.
WLeaping Lena was a West German racing pigeon who got lost in Czechoslovakia during a routine 1954 flight. When she returned home two days later, there was a message addressed to Radio Free Europe attached to one of her legs. It read:We plead with you not to slow down in the fight against communism because communism must be destroyed. We beg for a speedy liberation from the power of the Kremlin and the establishment of a United States of Europe.We listen to your broadcasts. They present a completely true picture of life behind the Iron Curtain. We would like you to tell us how we can combat bolshevism and the tyrannical dictatorship existing here.We are taking every opportunity to work against the regime and do everything in our power to sabotage it.
WMacaco Tião was a chimpanzee of the Rio de Janeiro Zoological Garden who was very popular with children and visitors.
WMurfee is a male Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and was the second animal to be elected to the honorary office of mayor in the town of Fair Haven, Vermont on March 3, 2020. Murfee was born in Oregon in 2016 and was bought by his current owners, Linda and Ray Barker of Fair Haven, Vermont that year. In the fall of 2017, Murfee became a certified therapy dog. He has also earned AKC titles as a Therapy Dog and Canine Good Citizen. He was re-elected for a second term on March 3, 2021.
WThe National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation is a ceremony that takes place at the White House every year shortly before Thanksgiving. The president of the United States is presented with a live domestic turkey by the National Turkey Federation (NTF), usually males of the Broad Breasted White variety. The early years also included a joint presentation with the Poultry and Egg National Board. The ceremony dates back to the 1940s; these turkeys were usually slaughtered and eaten prior to the 1970s, when it became standard practice to spare the turkey. During the Presidency of George H. W. Bush, it became a tradition for the president to issue a ceremonial "pardon" to the turkey. It is a tradition that the turkeys be picked from the chairperson of the NTF's home state, occasionally from the chair's own farm.
WNon-human electoral candidates have been found in a number of countries. Often, the candidacies are a means of casting a protest vote or satirizing the political system. At other times it is simply done for entertainment value.
WPost turtle is a phrase that has been used in political discourse of various countries, particularly in North America, based on an old joke. Various politicians have been referenced by the joke or used the joke, including Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.
WSaturn was an American alligator residing in the Moscow Zoo. He was the subject of an urban myth that he was previously Adolf Hitler's "pet alligator".
WUnited States presidents have often kept pets while in office, or pets have been part of their families. Only James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Donald Trump did not have presidential pets while in office.
WYanardag, is an Akhal-Teke stallion owned by the former President of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov. The stallion is depicted on the coat of arms of Turkmenistan, on a 2001 miniature sheet Turkmenistan postage stamp, and in other Turkmen national representations, and he is also often featured in newspaper and magazine articles.
WOn 6 February 2012, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the far-right populist leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, released a 30-second election video on the Internet that featured him on a sleigh which was harnessed with a black donkey. Zhirinovsky later claimed he owned the animal and that the animal was named Proshka, after Mikhail Prokhorov, another candidate in the 2012 Russian presidential election. The video was named "Troika" at the official site of the LDPR, but was distributed on YouTube under the title: "Zhirinovsky beats donkey!".