Billie and Debbie

Billie and Debbie were Syrian hamsters who were United States presidential pets in the care of Caroline Kennedy during the presidency of her father John F. Kennedy. They joined the First Family at the White House in January 1961.[1]

The hamsters came from Everett Engle of Engle Laboratory Animals whose breeding stock originally came from Gulf Hamstery.[2]

The hamsters escaped on their second night living at the White House.[3] President Kennedy captured them later under his bed.[3]

The pair had a litter of pups. One hamster drowned in a tub and the rest were eaten by their father[1] and then "the mother hamster killed the father and then died herself, probably of indigestion."[4]

References
  1. "JFK's Hamsters, Debbie and Billie". Presidential Pet Museum. 19 March 2016.
  2. Smith, Gerald D. (2012). "Hamsters – Taxonomy and History". In Suckow, Mark A.; Stevens, Karla A.; Wilson, Ronald P. (eds.). The laboratory rabbit, guinea pig, hamster, and other rodents (1st ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press. pp. 747–753. ISBN 0123809207.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Saunders, Marya (26 July 1963). "From the White House: Please no more pets!". Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
  4. Bryant, Traphes (1976). Dog days at the White House : the outrageous memoirs of the Presidential kennel keeper. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 9780671805333.
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