Sunday, September 16, 2007

A DOG'S LIFE

"When the New York socialite Leona Helmsley left much of her fortune to her poodle rather than her grandchildren, she was following in a long - if odd - tradition. But she did care about at least one living creature apart from herself: when her will was published this week, it was revealed that she had left more than $12m (€9m) to her white Maltese dog "Trouble". ..The most notorious heir of the dog variety is a German Shepherd called Gunther IV. ..the canine is reportedly worth $180m. He inherited the money from his father, the imaginatively-named Gunther III, who was given $60m when German countess Karlotta Libenstein died in 1992. ..Then there is the poodle Toby Rimes, a descendant of a dog that inherited £15m from New York owner Ella Wendel." (Independent. 31 August)
There has to be something screwy about a society where thousands of kids die from the lack of clean water or food and a dog lives in luxury. RD

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