Remembering Betty White: 8 facts that prove she was a true friend to animals

As a girl, she helped her parents take care of homeless pets they would adopt – particularly during the Great Depression when times were tough. Though she’s owned pets her whole life, her most recent furry friend was Pontiac, a Golden Retriever she adopted in 2005. Pontiac wasn’t suited for becoming a guide dog due to his overly friendly personality – which is how Betty knew they were meant for each other. After Pontiac died a few years ago, she decided not to adopt another dog, for fear that he or she would outlive her. 

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Betty said the best gift she ever got was a Pekingese puppy. She named the dog Bandit because he “stole her heart”. They shared 17 wonderful years together.

She turned down a role in As Good As It Gets because at one point in the film, Jack Nicholson’s character was supposed to throw his neighbour’s puppy down a laundry chute. She was worried this scene would set a bad example and has said: “As long as that scene was in the film, I wouldn’t do it.”

It first aired in the 1970’s, and was then re-released in 2021. Each episode began with Betty White introducing a pet, and then their celebrity owner.

When speaking to Entertainment Weekly about not having children of her own, she said: “I love children, the only problem with children: they grow up to be people, and I just like animals better than people. It’s that simple.”

Among them Guide Dogs for the Blind, the American Humane Association, and the Morris Animal Foundation, for which she was also a board trustee member and president emeritus. She personally funded 30 health studies that improved health for dogs, cats, horses, and wildlife. In an interview, when asked what her favourite gift to give was, she responded: “Money to my favourite animal charities.” In fact, many people are today taking part in the #bettywhitechallenge to celebrate her birthday – by donating at least $5 to their local animal charity.

She wrote them with her friend Tom Sullivan, who lost his sight as an infant. When Sullivan’s retired guide dog Dinah, felt depressed by the arrival of his new guide dog, White adopted Dinah, and they shared over 5 beautiful years together. But even before this, Betty was a huge advocate for guide dogs and the rights of guide dog owners. 

In 2010, the Betty White Wildlife Rapid Response Fund was created thanks to Betty’s funding. Now called the Betty White Wildlife Fund, over the years, it has helped to save and rehabilitate thousands of animals; from dolphins affected by oil spills to marsupials affected by the fires in Australia. Betty White was also a trustee of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, and helped Jane Goodall redesign the great apes’ enclosures. It is said she often visited the zoo, even bringing along toilet paper tubes since she knew the keepers needed them for enrichment purposes. “I’m the luckiest person in the world,” she once said. “My life is divided in absolute half: half animals, half show business.”