The political zoo

Slide show: The most awkward encounters between politicians and the animal kingdom

Published June 12, 2010 6:01PM (EDT)

It was supposed to be a run-of-the-mill press conference on the wasteful subsidies of mohair goat farms, but events took a grisly turn Thursday as Rep. Anthony Weiner was nicked in the finger by one of the goats he had brought to Washington for the event. “I got a little bit too comfortable,” Weiner told the New York Daily News of his encounter with Lancelot the goat. “The damn thing slipped out of neutral at the worst time.”

With this encounter, Weiner joins a long line of politicians who have suffered unfortunate run-ins with the animal kingdom. From Benjamin Harrison chasing a goat-drawn cart down the streets of Washington to Jimmy Carter engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a demon “swamp rabbit,” the tradition of politician-beast guffaws is long and illustrious. Here are our favorite encounters between our finest political animals and, well…other animals.

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By Ryan Brown

Ryan Brown is a writer living in Boston.

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