Christian Peterson
reporter.riverbendnews@gmail.com
National Pet Day falls on Friday, April 11, this year. It is a day set aside to honor and love pets a little bit more. While people love their pets every day, National Pet Day offers a chance to go above and beyond. It also provides a chance to acknowledge the animals who have yet to be adopted, and bring attention to their plight. To celebrate National Pet Day, Riverbend News is pointing out some of the more interesting pets that people have had throughout human history. This article will also provide some ideas for how to celebrate and care for local animals; for example, take supplies to pets in shelters, help a friend with pets recovering from injury or illness, adopt a pet, and give your pet extra love with a bath, rub down, treats and even toys.
Captain Zebulon Pike was an American brigadier general and explorer during the early 1800s. He was exploring along the Arkansas River when he accidentally crossed into Spanish territory, where he was taken into custody and escorted back to United States territory. During this journey, he purchased two grizzly bear cubs from a local inhabitant. He sent the two cubs, along with a letter, to President Thomas Jefferson. In the letter, Pike wrote “[they are] considered by the natives of that country as the most ferocious animals of the continent.” Jefferson kept the cubs for a short amount of time, though he could tell from the beginning that these animals were too much to control. In a letter to his grandaughter, Ann Cary Randolph, Jefferson wrote, “These are too dangerous and troublesome for me to keep. I shall therefore send them to Peale's Museum.” However, the bears remained with Jefferson for about two months. They outgrew their cages and at one point began living in an enclosure on the lawn of the President's house.
The 1800s were a significant for bears, as George Gordon Byron, more famously known as the romantic poet Lord Byron, was another bear owner. He was an animal lover his whole life, and had a particular fondness for his Newfoundland dog named Boatswain. He loved the dog so much he wanted to take it with him to Trinity College when he began attending in 1805. However, the college rules were clear that no dogs were allowed on the grounds. Byron, out of frustration with the college refusing to allow his dog, acquired a tame bear. The college statutes only mentioned dogs as forbidden and an argument ensued between Byron and the college heads. However, the university had no rule to back it up and thus, the bear couldn't be forced out. No one knows where Byron acquired the bear, nor what its name was, however, it traveled with him everywhere on a collar and chain. Eventually, Byron left school in 1808, taking his bear with him to his estate in London, where it lived free on the grounds alongside his other exotic pets.
While the above pets are some of the more interesting ones, the list is extensive. Some honorable mentions are:
• An alligator pet that Marquis de Lafayette owned later became John Quincy Adams's and even lived at the White House for a time.
• Gerard de Nerval, a French romantic poet, had a pet lobster named Thibault. He wasn't kept in a aquarium and was said to walk around the gardens of Paris on a blue silken leash.
• Ancient Roman rulers, such as Consul Licinius Muraena, Quintus Hortensius and Lucius Licinius Crassus, owned moray eels. In fact, Muraena kept roughly 6,000 of them in special pools on his property.
• President Andrew Jackson owned a grey parrot that was so foul mouthed that she was removed from Jackson's funeral.
• The King of Norway gifted King Henry III a polar bear.