Zsa Zsa and Zoo-pets!

Z is for Zsa Zsa and Pets that belonged in a Zoo that weren’t previously blogged about!

  Martin Van Buren (1837-1841), James Buchanan (1857-1861), Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929), Richard Nixon (1969-1974), and Jimmy Carter (1977-1981).

 

Zsa Zsa

President John F. Kennedy was given a white rabbit named Zsa Zsa by a magician. The rabbit supposedly played the first five bars on the Star Spangled Banner on a gold trumpet and drank beer. She didn’t stay long at the WH; she was sent to an orphanage – maybe to entertain the poor orphans!

vintage illustration

 

Zoo Animals

President Martin Van Buren was given a pair of tiger cubs by the Sultan of Oman. Apparently Van Buren wanted to keep the cubs at the WH because Congress had to force him to donate them to the local zoo.

representative photo

President James Buchanan was given a “herd” of elephants by the King of Siam (Thailand). Once source says they never arrived because President Lincoln politely turned the gift down. Another source said the elephants when directly to the local zoo.  The President was also reported to have a pair of Bald Eagles but it is not known as to whether the eagles lived at the WH or the zoo.

vintage illustration

President Theodore Roosevelt had numerous animals that belonged in a zoo. Some of them lived at the WH, others at his home in New York. He had a hyena, lion, coyote, zebra, barn owl, raccoon, five bears, flying squirrel and a wildcat.

all vintage photos/illustrations

President Calvin Coolidge was given a pair of lion cubs by the Mayor of Johannesburg, South Africa. He named them Budget Bureau and Tax Reduction and sent them to the zoo. He also had a wallaby, a black bear, a duiker and a bobcat named Smokey.

Poor babies, they look miserable. These supposedly photos of the actual cubs.

Duiker, representative photo

Bobcat, representative photo

Wallaby – sort of a mini-kangaroo!

President Jimmy Carter’s daughter was gifted with an elephant by a Sri Lankan immigrant. The elephant was sent to the National Zoo.

Representative photo

President Richard Nixon probably got the coolest gift, er, loan of all! Thanks to him we have pandas in the National Zoo!! China sent pandas Ling-ling and Hsing-Hsing to the United States after Nixon’s historic visit to their country in 1972. Not really pets, per se, but then neither are bears, wallabies and lion or tiger cubs.

This is a photo of the pandas, but I don’t know which is which!

First Lady Pat Nixon with the pandas

 

Well, that’s it!! That’s the end of this run and boy am I tired!! I hope you enjoyed this month of posts! I enjoyed researching and sharing all the information!  On my reflections post sometime in May I’m going to post some questions for you to answer – don’t worry – they’ll be easy!! My Caturday Art will be in a separate post!!!

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