Canadian Prime Minister has a chinchilla

[Prophet of Frida]

Someone on Twitter mentioned to me today that Canadian PM Stephen Harper has a chinchilla, so I had to look it up. This article is from September, and aside from a tweet from Harper showing his chinchilla wearing a pilgrim hat at Thanksgiving, there's not much that's more recent out there that I could find.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/09/24/mitchel-raphael-on-mulcairs-fanboy-and-the-harper-households-new-pet/

Meet Charlie Harper

24 Sussex Drive has a new resident: Charlie, a five-year-old chinchilla. “My daughter has had several hamsters and we were looking for a guinea pig,” says Laureen Harper. “But when I saw Charlie at the annual Ottawa Humane Society garden party I just knew he belonged with us.” For the past two weeks, the Harpers have been learning about chinchillas, rodents native to South America. “Charlie is very friendly and loves attention. He has a dust bath a few times a week to stay clean. I don’t think there is a softer animal on Earth and he loves to sit on our daughter’s lap,” says Harper. “He is nocturnal and so when we spend the evening in our family room he is very entertaining.” Charlie joins the other permanent pets currently residing at 24 Sussex: two cats, Gypsy and Stanley. “And I do have two tiny foster kittens that will need a home in about a month,” Harper says.

 

[AZChins]

That's adorable! Foster kittens...awwwww...

Sounds like a very soft-hearted politician.

 

[Amethyst]

Wow that's awesome! I didn't know about that, just another reason to like Stephen Harper. :thumbsup:

 

[Tagna]

His wife actually emailed me about a friend adopting a chin from me. She wanted to know about safe treats as they want to train Charlie.

 

[Beena]

That's adorable

 

[Prophet of Frida]

From the PM's flickr account: