Exotic pets are in vogue especially for our celebrities who have decided to ditch the dogs and cats as pets, and instead own some really weird creatures. From George Clooney’s beloved pet pig and Reese Witherspoon’s donkeys to Leonardo DiCaprio’s tortoise, here is a look at some of the most bizarre pets that our celebrities own.
Move over dogs and cats because the new celebrity favorites are pigs, monkeys, lizards, goats and even a kinkajou. We all know that stars have their own set of eccentricities when it comes to fashion choices or other habits, but this list of unusual pets will make you wonder as to how far these stars can go to show off their crazy side. Designer and handbag dogs with weird and crazy names seem so last season. The recent celebrity trend is to collect the rarest and the most unusual pet that you can find on the planet.
From Nicolas Cage’s offensively expensive octopus and Tori Spelling’s fluffy chicken to Justin Bieber’s illegal capuchin, our celebrities seem to have the weirdest of pets that you can find. While acquiring these pets seem quite easy, the care and responsibility needed for keeping these exotic animals as pets can be quite a task as most of these celebrities may have realized. This of course leads to short-term relationships which our stars are quite famous for. Here is a list of some of the most bizarre and weird celebrity pets.
Unusual Celebrity Pets
Note.– The images are not of the actual pets and are purely for representational purpose.
George Clooney and his Pig “Max”
He may be one of the sexiest men in Hollywood but his longest-running affair is not with a woman but a pot-bellied pig named Max. In fact, the actor once jokingly said that he would wed Max only if he could get him into a wedding dress. The huge 300 pounds Black Vietnamese pot-bellied pig lived in the actor’s Hollywood hills home for eighteen years till he died in 2006. So will the actor get a new pig to replace beloved Max? According to Clooney, “Max covered all my pig needs.”
Tori Spelling and her Chicken “Coco”
If you spot Tori Spelling with a fluffy little thing in her arms do not mistake it for a dog. After all chihuahuas and toy dogs are all old-fashioned, the new arm candy for this celebrity is a silkie bantam chicken known as “Coco.” By the way Coco seems to share its owner’s fashion fetish, and you can see the chicken dressed in little capelets, sweaters and not to forget chicken diapers! In fact, the proud chicken owner says, “I make her outfits to mimic my vintage dresses.” Coco is not the most unusual pet that Tori Spelling has. Along with snakes and pigs, she and her husband Dean McDermott have pet goats, and one of them is known as “Totes McGoat!”
Reese Witherspoon and her Donkeys “Honky” and “Tonky”
The new additions to this stunning actress’s ever-growing animal family are a pair of miniature donkeys who are named “Honky” and “Tonky.” According to Witherspoon, the donks (miniature donkeys) are apparently “sweet and docile.” Unfortunately for her, her neighbors did not seem to share the same view. Angered by the constant racket that the donkeys were making, the neighbors sent a letter to complain. Along with the donkeys, the actress also has twenty chickens, three goats, two pigs and a pony, who seem to enjoy hanging out with the donkeys.
Rupert Grint and his Teacup Pigs
Pigs seem to be ruling the list of weird pets. The newest craze in town are teacup pigs, and from trendy celebrities to just about everyone who can afford these thousand dollar exotic pet seem to be looking for teacup pigs. Rupert Grint, the red-haired Harry Potter celebrity owns two of these miniature pigs. The small pot-bellied pigs are teacup-sized when they are born, weighing around 9 to 10 pounds. However as our Hogwarts celebrity may have found out, these pigs grow up to weigh around 90 to 150 pounds when fully mature. Although the weight is lesser than the 700 to 1000 pounds that fully-grown pot-bellied pigs grow up to weigh, the tiny pigs do not always remain as small, and thus caring for them can be quite a challenge. Apart from Rupert Grint, David Beckham and the eccentric Paris Hilton also own teacup pigs.
Leonardo DiCaprio and his Sulcata Tortoise
With Leonardo DiCaprio, the slow and steady does win the race. When he attended the North American Reptile Breeders Conference and Trade Show in 2010, the actor got home a long-term companion, a 38-pound Sulcata tortoise. He paid around $400 for the 10-year-old tortoise which will reportedly weigh around 200 pounds once mature and live for more than eighty years.
Nicolas Cage and his Octopus
We all know about Nicolas Cage and his financial troubles. However, it is not just the fifty cars, the jet, the two islands and the castle that are to blame. The actor reportedly shelled out a whooping $276,000 to buy an octopus and two king cobras named Moby and Sheba. Apparently the octopus was purchased to help him become a better actor (we wonder how an anti-social and poisonous octopus would do that?). The bad news: he had to give up all his pets after the neighbors freaked out over the dangerous cobras, and the octopus’ acting lessons probably did not work.
Mike Tyson and his Racing Pigeons
We are familiar with the rough and tough former boxing champion with a host of heavyweight titles to his credit, but do you know Mike Tyson has a soft spot for…pigeons! His love affair with these birds started when he was growing up in Brooklyn and has been a permanent feature in his life ever since.
Unfortunately there is a horrific, somewhat weird incident related to the pigeons. Apparently Mike was dating a young woman who decided that instead of flying the birds he should be eating them. She then proceeded to put her words into action by cooking and eating one. Thankfully after this disgusting incident, the relationship went downhill. At one point Mike Tyson also had a ferocious white tiger which he had to give up because caring for it became too expensive.
Kristen Stewart and her Wolf-Dog “Jack”
Well, for all you know Little Red Riding Hood falls for the wolf. While her character in Twilight may have sided with the vampires, Kristen Stewart is actually quite friendly with wolves in real life. Or, at least her mom is. She owns a wolf-dog hybrid called “Jack” who according to her “looks scary but is actually quite sweet.”
Paris Hilton’s Kinkajou “Baby Luv”
Whenever you think of Paris Hilton you can imagine her with the small, weirdly-dressed dogs in her handbag. However, at one point this eccentric star owned an endangered, tree-dwelling kinkajou (honey bear) and named it “Baby Luv”. I guess Baby Luv was so horrified by its crazy name that it sank its teeth into the socialite’s arms. The result: Baby Luv is out of Paris Hilton’s life faster than her last season’s designer bags.
Audrey Hepburn had a pet Deer “Pippin”
She not only looked like a Disney princess but also had a deer following her just to prove it. The Oscar winning actress met Pippin (nicknamed “Ip”), who was supposed to be her on-screen sidekick, during the shooting of her movie “Green Mansions” in 1959. The pet-trainer for the movie suggested that Audrey take the fawn home so that it would learn to follow her. The deer grew so attached to the actress that it would follow her just about everywhere even to the Beverly Hills supermarket.
Vanilla Ice and his Wallaroo “Bucky Buckaroo”
Remember Vanilla Ice and his hit single Ice Ice Baby? He may have disappeared for years but the rapper made headlines in 2004 when his wallaroo, which is a cross between a wallaby and a kangaroo, escaped from his home and went wandering around Port St. Lucie scaring everyone around.
Justin Bieber and his Capuchin “Mally”
The Canadian pop star and teenage heartthrob, Justin Bieber, with his numerous questionable relationships and stupid twitter rants may not be the smartest guy around. However, one of the strangest things that he did was to take an illegal pet capuchin to a tour in Germany. “OG Mally”, the capuchin, was a gift from a friend Jamal “Mally Mall” Rashid on the star’s 19th birthday. Although the star was excited about owning the little thing, he probably did not feel the need to fill the papers to legalize it. The result: The German authorities confiscated the pet, and now the star does not want the monkey back and is instead looking for a safe haven for it.
The Kardashian Sisters and their Monkey “Suzy”
Apart from the designer clothes and shoes, the Kardashian sisters, famous for their reality show, also own a pet chimpanzee called Suzy. Apparently Kim Kardashian faced a lot of flak from the media when she put up pictures of the family with their pet. This is because only a week before the pictures made their round, a woman in US had been grievously wounded by a chimpanzee. Of course, this led to the end of the short-term relationship with Suzy and a whole lot of apologies by Kim.
Charlie Sheen and his Water Dragon “Hopper Jr.”
When it comes to pets, Charlie Sheen has the worst track record of dead pets. He owned a beautiful Chinese water dragon known as Hopper Jr. at one point which died due to the actor’s neglect, and a bearded dragon which fell into a pool and died. In fact one of the dogs that he returned to his ex-wife Denise Richards died due to malnutrition in a few days, and the other was in an equally bad condition.
Tippi Hedren and her Lions
Tippi Hedren established the Shambala Preserve which houses many exotic big cats that live in captivity, after producing the film Roar. While most of these lions lived in the preserve, “Neil” the lion lived with the family for many years often frolicking around the children like a pet cat.
Michael Jackson and his Chimpanzee “Bubbles” and Tiger “Thriller”
Michael Jackson’s eccentricities are renowned. However, he gave eccentricity a whole new meaning when he adopted a pet chimpanzee named “Bubbles” who was Jackson’s constant companion till 2002. The chimp would not only accompany the celebrity on tours but also shared the same toilet, had his own nanny, and was even trained to eat with a spoon and fork at the dinner table. Their love affair however came to a drastic end when Bubbles became too aggressive and had to be removed from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch home.
Bubbles was not the only pet Michael Jackson had. “Thriller”, a Royal Bengal white tiger was one of Michael Jackson’s exotic pets. When the Neverland Ranch closed down in 2006 due to the actor’s inability to pay his staff, the tiger and its brother “Sabu” were sent to Tippi Hedren’s wildlife preserve.
Apart from this list, some of the strangest animals can be seen in Hugh Hefner’s mansion which is home not only to the countless “bunnies” but is also a menagerie of the most unusual pets that include flamingos, peacocks, tigers, spider monkeys, capuchins, tamarins and squirrel monkeys. There have been many discussions about how safe or feasible it is to own exotic pets. For these celebrities however these arguments do not really matter. The oddball celebrity pets have made into the homes and heart of their owners and are most likely to stay there.