The world’s 6 richest pets

 

. People love pets. From the ordinary to the exotic, humans love to look after other species, whether they are as common as a cat or as endangered as an eagle. We often devote more time and affection to our furred and feathered friends than we do to our own kin. 6. Trouble the Dog—£7.8 Million ($12 Million) Smiling was incredibly painful for Leona Helmsely. Nicknamed “The Queen of Mean”, LeonaHelmsley was an American businesswoman and real estate entrepreneur famous for tax evasion and her tyrannical Behaviour. Helmsley was kind to very few people in her life, famously making employees beg for their jobs and disinheriting family members on a whim. There was somethingthat Helmsley did care about though—her pet poodle ‘Trouble’. Trouble was the 20th Century’s Mona Lisa. In 2007, when Helmsley died of heart failure, her family discovered that many of them had been left out of her will, while Trouble received over $12 million of Helmsley’s hard earned savings. After lengthy court proceedings,a judge declared that Helmsley was not of sound mind when she wrote the will and reduced the dog’s payout to $2 million. This is still a pretty good sum for a pooch. 5. Blackie the Cat—£8.5 Million ($13 million) This cat always wins at Monopoly. Reclusive retired filmmaker Ben Rea spent his lasts years living a lonely life, secluded away in his mansion. He had only his pet cat ‘Blackie’ for company. So when Rea passed away in 1988, it was no surprise to his lawyers to discover that Rea had bequeathed his entire £9 million ($13 million) fortune to his favoured feline. Now ‘Blackie’ lives a life of luxury, eating only the finest foods in his ex-owner’s home. With a full-time caretaker for company, Blackie’s fortune is invested in cat sanctuaries and charities.   4. Tommaso the Cat—£8.5 Million ($13 million) This cat has solid-gold contact lenses. In November 2011, millionaire Maria Assunta died. One month later her lawyers revealed that ‘Tommaso’, a stray cat she had taken in, was to be the sole beneficiary. With a portfolio including homes and villas across Italy, this is one puss that can afford very expensive boots. This is the cat’s litter tray. Assunta’s lawyers, Anna Orecchioni and GiacintoCanzona, say that she left the fortune to Tommaso in a will she wrote and deposited with them in their office in Rome in October 2009, years before her illness, so her mental health cannot be questioned.Unfortunately for Tommaso, according to Italian law, an animal cannot inherit money directly, so instead, an animal association will be chosen to “represent his interests”, fish and balls of string. 3. Gigoo the Chicken—£9.1 Million ($14 million) That’s caviar on its beak. Miles Blackwell was the fourth generation of Oxford book-sellers, Blackwell limited. Known for his charitable work, love of animals and sense of humour, Blackwell was a popular and much loved inhabitant of Oxford. Establishing many animal charities during his life, such as the Tubney Foundation, it was after his death that his love for animals and sense of humour became most explicit. Rich chickens love cake effigies. Upon reading his will, Blackwell’s family were surprised to find not onlythat much of his personal wealth had beendonated to the animal charities he had established, but also that £10 million ($14 million) had been left to his favourite pet Giggo, a chicken. 2. Tobey Rimes the Dog—£59 Million ($92 million) That’s a nice profile pic. In the early 1900s Ella Wendel was the heiress of a multi-million dollar real estate fortune. The family fortune originally came from the fur industry, but over the years they had amassed a great number of properties in New York, specifically in the Manhattan area, due to their motto, “Buy, Never Sell”. Tobey’s Playgirl shoot was tastefully done. When Ella Wendel died in 1931, with no living heirs, hundreds of people staked a claim to her fortune. Unfortunately for the claimants, Wendel’s will stipulated that her fortune be put into a trust for her dog, ‘Toby Rimes’ and his descendants. Some eighty years later, the descendant of that lucky canine, also named Toby Rimes, is now the inheritor of a $92 million fortune. 1.Gunther IV the Dog—$373 Million Even the rich get hangovers. The richest animal in the world, which has a fortune of $373 million dollars, is the fabulously wealthy woofer, Gunther the Fourth. Gunther’s father, Gunther the Third, was the pet of wealthy German countess, Karlotta Liebenstein,and upon her death he found himself the sole inheritor of her entire fortune. Gunther has no idea how lucky he is. Unfortunately for Gunther the Third, the death of his mistress severely affected him, and he died a month after her. Luckily for the Gunther family the countess had stipulated in her will that her fortune should be carried on down the dog’s line. So, Gunther IV is now the world’s most pampered pooch.