Interesting Facts

Football star, Jermain Defoe is advertising for an executive personal assistant. (For £60,000 a year, he is looking for someone who is flexible, hands on, capable of multi-tasking, and who demonstrates a high level of discretion and confidentiality. Do you think you fit the bill? Well, you will be on call 24/7, and able to travel worldwide at a moment's notice. You will also be expected to organise his and his family's (including his pets) private, social and business calendars. You will be maintaining his itinerary, arranging all public appearances and travel arrangements, working on business projects including creating a global brand for the Jermin Defoe name, including his clothing line and fragrance, spotting sponsorship opportunities, and growing the online database for his website, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking platforms, oh and producing his iPhone app. On top of that the lucky applicant will be tasked with organising his wardrobe wi...

Pet crocodiles in the UK have to be micro chipped. (Yes, people do keep crocodiles as pets. In fact in 2010 there were 72 licensed crocodiles and alligators kept as domestic pets, but no one knows how many are being kept unlicensed. I wonder what they do when it's time to go walkies.)

Parts of the US and Australia have pet curfews where owners have to ensure that their cat or dog are indoors. (There are also no-go areas for cats and dogs, in an attempt to protect native wildlife. Some groups are calling for similar controls in the UK, where an estimated 200 million birds and small animals are killed by domestic cats every year. Laika is always in bed by 10pm.)

According to a poll carried out by unbiased.co.uk, around 1.5million Brits plan to leave their money to their pets. By muddybunny | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon (Unsurprisingly, most people, 29 million of them, said they would leave their money to their children, followed by partners or spouses (26million) and then other relatives (nine million). Nearly 4.5million, said they intend to leave their money to a charity, while three million plan to name a friend in their wills. The family dog or cat was sixth on the list of beneficiaries, trumping the Church and secret lovers, which were seventh and eighth. I wondered why Sam and Laika were going through the papers on my desk the other day.) Source

According to the Pet Plan pet census, 65% of pet owners in the UK believe that having pets in the workplace is good for the health and well-being of employees. (I'd have to agree with them.  I work from home and my two dogs are always making me get off the computer, hence preventing RSI and back problems.) Source:  http://www.petplan.co.uk/petcensus/censusinfo.pdf

According to the Petplan pet census 50% of people in the UK think that having a pet improves their social life. (In fact 72% of respondents said that strangers were more likely to interact with them if they were with their pet.  Now of course this could be a good or a bad thing, depending on the stranger, but  it looks like if you want to improve your English, get a dog and move to the UK.)

According to the Times, rabbits are the third most popular pet in the UK. (There are around 1.6m bunny owners in the UK. So, maybe Hugh Hefners' will find a good home.)

According to the Office of National Statistics, the weekly spend on pets in the UK ranks 37th, ahead of cosmetics, cakes and holidays in the UK. (Fifty years before, in 1957, it ranked 49th. Of course my guys take this as a matter of course.)

There are over 23 million pets in Germany. (Most of them are allowed into shops, cafes and other public places, much to the consternation of visitors. It's great fun taking a big mutt like Sam into a posh dress shop.)