Paddles (2016 – 7 November 2017) was a ginger and white

polydactyl cat A polydactyl cat is a cat with a congenital physical anomaly called polydactyly (or polydactylism, also known as hyperdactyly), which causes the cat to be born with more than the usual number of toes on one or more of its paws. Cats with this ge ...

, owned by New Zealand Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

and her partner Clarke Gayford. Paddles had a profile on Twitter and in politics as "First Cat".

Early life

Paddles was a rescue cat, adopted by Ardern from a branch of the

SPCA A Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is a common name for non-profit animal welfare organizations around the world. The oldest SPCA organization is the RSPCA, which was founded in England in 1824. SPCA organizations operate i ...

Career

She became a celebrity as the "First Cat" after Ardern took office, and a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account was established in her name. Ardern said that she did not know who created the account. When U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

phoned Ardern to congratulate her for becoming Prime Minister in October 2017, Paddles interrupted the conversation.

Death

Paddles was run over by a car and killed in the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

suburb of

Point Chevalier Point Chevalier (; commonly known as Point Chev and an original colonial name of Point Bunbury after Thomas Bunbury) is a residential suburb and peninsula in the city of Auckland in the north of New Zealand. It is located five kilometres to ...

on 7 November 2017.

References

2016 animal births 2017 animal deaths Individual cats in politics Animals on the Internet Jacinda Ardern Individual animals in New Zealand 2017 in New Zealand Pets of world leaders {{cat-stub

Early life

Career

Death

See also

References