New York real estate billionaire Leona Helmsley’s best friend was her dog, a fluffy white Maltese bitch named Trouble. And before she died last August, she wrote two of her grandchildren out of her will "for reasons which are known to them" and left Trouble US$12 million. The grandchildren eventually worked out a deal with the executors of “Queen of Mean’s” estate and Trouble’s bequest was slashed to $2 million. “Screw the Pooch”, said the New York Post smugly. (Helmsley, who was notorious for allegedly saying that "We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes," had always been a Post dartboard.)

However, it turns out that Mrs Helmsley was meaner than anyone had dreamed. According to the New York Times, her entire charitable trust, valued at between US$5 billion and $8 billion, is to be used be used for the care and welfare of dogs. This will make it one of the dozen largest foundations in the US -- and probably the only one which excludes human beings. In the original provisions of the trust, written in 2003, Mrs Helmsley set two goals: first, to care for homeless people, and second, to care for dogs. A year later, she deleted the first goal.

It is not sure whether her instructions will be honoured to the letter. Mindful of the uproar which greeted the news of Trouble’s bequest, the trustees have engaged consultants to devise a way to remain true to Mrs Helmsley’s intentions while at the same time pursuing broader charitable goals than hip replacements for ageing labradors. ~ New York Times, July 2