Celebrities With Wild Animals: Britney Spears, Justin Bieber & Other Stars Getting Wild

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February 22, 2023 2:30PM EST

The world is a wild place, and so are the animals in it. See stars who have had close encounters with wild animals as we celebrate National Wildlife Day.

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Stars With Wild Animals: Justin Bieber & More

Stars With Wild Animals: Justin Bieber & More
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/Shutt

Hey there, fellow animal enthusiasts! Are you ready to go on a wild ride? National Wildlife Day is the perfect occasion to celebrate the beauty and diversity of our planet’s creatures. And speaking of wild things, many celebrities have developed a passion for unusual and exotic pets over the years. From Audrey Hepburn’s fawns to Mike Tyson’s tiger, there’s a whole menagerie of animal companions to discover.

Take a look at this snapshot of Justin Bieber’s former pet monkey OG Mally perched on his shoulder during the pop star’s Comedy Central Roast in 2015. Unfortunately, the pair were separated in 2013 when German customs officials confiscated the capuchin from Justin. In a 2016 interview with GQ, Justin lamented the incident, saying, “Honestly, everyone told me not to bring the monkey. Everybody. Everyone told me not to bring the monkey. I was like, ‘It’s gonna be fine, guys!’ It was the farthest thing from fine.”

“In Germany, that monkey’s endangered or something … but I had the papers. I even had it written out that he was a circus monkey and he could travel and all that s***. I had all the right papers. Things get twisted,” he explained.

If you want to see more famous folks flaunting their love for unusual pets, don’t forget to click through our gallery. Who knows, you might just be inspired to adopt a few exotic creatures of your own.

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM
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Tippi Hedren & Melanie Griffith With Lions

Tippi Hedren & Melanie Griffith With Lions
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Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith hang out with their beloved lions in this 1982 photo. Tippi became a passionate advocate for big cats during her fame.

July 29, 2022, 12:37PM
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Jennifer Lopez & A Koala

Jennifer Lopez & A Koala
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Jennifer Lopez says g’day to a koala at the Wild Life Sydney Zoo attraction. It was a fun and touristy stop during her time in Australia on Dec. 15 tk. J Lo also made a donation to the zoo’s Wild Life Conservation Fund while she was there.

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM
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Britney Spears & The Snake

Britney Spears & The Snake
Beth A Keiser/AP/Shutterstock

Iconic! Britney Spears is seen on stage with the albino Burmese python Banana  during the finale of the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. The rest was history.

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM
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Mike Tyson & His Tiger

Mike Tyson & His Tiger
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Mike Tyson plays with his tiger in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1996. They were both ready to enjoy a swim.

Mike talked about his kitty with ‘GQ’ in 2019, telling the magazine, “I did have a pet tiger, her name was Kenya and she was around 550 pounds. I had a great affection for her; I kept her, I slept with her, I kept her in my room. She stayed with me; I had her for about 16 years. But she got too old and I had to get rid of her when her eyes and her head got bad. Oh, and she ripped somebody’s arm off.”

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM
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Robert Pattison & Tai The Elephant

Robert Pattison & Tai The Elephant
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Robert Pattinson poses with his co-star, 42-year-old elephant Tai in the movie ‘Water for Elephants’. It was Apr. 2, 2011.

The ‘Twilight’ star had quite the connection with the pachyderm. He told ‘Seventeen Latino’ in 2011, “I cried the last day that Tai was on the set of ‘Water For Elephants’, and during the film, ‘March of the Penguins’.”

He went on to say he prefers his animal co-stars. “I think I have more affinity with animals than with people. For many reasons, I prefer working with animals and children than with actors. Often when you’re working with actors, it becomes something almost competitive.”

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM
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Audrey Hepburn & Her Fawn

Audrey Hepburn & Her Fawn
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Audrey Hepburn bonds with a fawn in 1959 while filming her movie ‘Green Mansions’, a movie about a woman in the Venezuelan jungle who is followed everywhere by a little fawn. She was big on bonding with the little animal actor, who she named Ip and even bottle fed. “I don’t have any children of my own,” she told a reporter on set, according to ‘The Guardian’, “but I’m learning a lot from Ip.”

 

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM
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Carole Baskin & A Tiger

Carole Baskin & A Tiger
Mirrorpix / MEGA

Kitty drama. Here, ‘Tiger King’ personality Carole Baskin is seen at her Big Cats Rescue sanctuary on Mar. 18, 2020 in Tampa, Florida. The Netflix documentary tells the extraordinary story of how she was the target of a murder plot to stop her animal rights campaigning by Joseph “Joe Exotic” Maldonado-Passage.

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM
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The Irwins & A Snake

The Irwins & A Snake
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A legend remembered. Steve Irwin was honored with star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 26, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. His widow Terri Irwin, daughter Bindi, and son Robert were there with a boa constrictor named Angelina.

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM
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Simon Cowell & A Monkey

Simon Cowell & A Monkey
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Monkeying around? Simon Cowell plays with a Barbados Green Monkey on the beach after jet skiing with Lauren Silverman and their children.

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM
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The Royals & A Bilby

The Royals & A Bilby
Tim Rooke/Shutterstock

Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince George meet a bilby on Apr. 20, 2014. The nocturnal Australian animal was at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia.

March 2, 2022, 4:45PM