You’d be surprised how many celebrities are doing the right thing and adopting animal companions from shelters or straight-up rescuing them from the streets.
Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Ryan Reynolds, Arnold Schwarzenegger—the list goes on and on. They all have taken in one, if not several, pets into their homes and can often be seen with them on walks or enjoying a cuddle on their Instagrams and Twitters and Facebooks.
Bored Panda has compiled a list of celebrities and their trusty rescue animal companions which you can see below. Be sure to leave a comment and to upvote the ones that you liked the most.
This post may include affiliate links.
Chris Evans & Dodger
Chris first met Dodger in an animal shelter that was used as a set for one of his filmographical projects. He didn’t realize at first that these weren’t trained movie dogs, but actual rescues up for adoption. He fell in love with Dodger and decided to adopt him. There is even a video of him meeting Dodger for the first time.
Ryan Reynolds & Baxter
“I saw this big, dumb-looking retriever staring up at me… I whispered to him, ‘Hey, let’s get the hell out of here.’ And he jumped up, like he spoke English fluently. He came with me, he jumped in the car, and we’ve been best buddies ever since,” told Reynolds in an interview with ABC News. Did you expect any other rhetoric from him?
Hilary Swank & Lucky, Karoo, Rumi And Kai
Hilary Swank has not one, not two, not three, but four dogs named Lucky, Karoo, Rumi, and Kai, all seen above. Swank has her very own animal shelter and she claims that she has already rescued and found homes for thousands of dogs through it.
Zac Efron & Maca
A few months ago, Zac rescued a pit bull named Maca from the humane pet shop in LA. Reportedly, Maca was on her way to being euthanized when the pet shop rescued her, soon after which Zac came in and adopted her and gave her a forever home.
Taylor Swift & Benjamin
Meet Benjamin Button, Taylor Swift’s beloved ragdoll cat. Taylor saw Benjie on the set of one of her music videos, where she fell in love with him and decided to adopt him. Before this, he used to be a part of a company that does commercials that urged people to adopt. Now, he joins two of Taylor's other cats, Meredith and Olivia.
Arnold Schwarzenegger & Dutch
The Governator adopted the now 1-year-old dog named Dutch during the pandemic. He named the dog Dutch after his character in the movie Predator, leading to people joking how the Terminator adopted the Predator. Dutch is still getting used to Arnold’s two other animal companions, the pony Whiskey and donkey Lulu.
Selena Gomez & Winnie
Selena Gomez is truly a dog person as she’s rescued seven dogs already. Her love for rescuing dogs came from her family and she is now a mom of six dogs: Willie, Baylor, Chip, Chaz, Wallace, Fina, and her latest addition Winnie, as seen above.
Amanda Seyfried & Finn
While working on the set of Big Love, she found a stray Australian shepherd, who she took in and named Finn. She explained that her anxiety has gotten better since taking him in, and we have no doubt Finn is happier that he now has a forever home with her.
Josh Hutcherson & Driver
Driver is a pit bull who had a bit of a rough childhood. He doesn’t have two of his toes and had a broken leg when Josh decided to take him in. This was after 110 days of Driver being in the shelter—each shelter has its own limit of days animals can stay there, and this one stayed for longer than usual, but it was worth it. He got very much-needed surgery and is now living puppily ever after with Hutcherson.
Eva Mendes & Lucho
A bit over a year ago, Eva Mendes announced the addition of a doggo named Lucho to her family. She and her significant other Ryan Gosling adopted him from the Friends For Life Rescue Network.
Jennifer Aniston & Clyde And Lord Chesterfield
Aniston recently announced a third addition to her pooch family named Lord Chesterfield, posting a picture where he is seen asleep with a bone in his mouth—adorable. He joined two of Aniston’s other doggies, Clyde, her Schnauzer mix, and Sophie, her white pit bull.
Zooey Deschanel & Dot And Zelda
Zooey had no pets previously, so her boyfriend decided to get her a dog. They went to a shelter to look for one. They actually ended up getting two as Dot and Zelda were sisters and it would have been traumatic for them to be separated, especially after their affectionate display of sisterhood in the shelter—licking each other frantically.
Justin Theroux & Kuma
Justin Theroux is also an animal lover and a long-time bully breed advocate, having tattoos of two of his previous doggos, and he also worked closely with Austin Pets Alive. During his work, he heard about Pooch, a dog that was left in bad shape after Hurricane Harvey, and ended up taking her home.
Drew Barrymore & Douglas, Lucky, Peach
Barrymore is also a long-time animal lover and has saved over ten animals throughout her life. In 2017, she rescued Douglas, a doggo that was abandoned in the San Fernando valley fires, and a year later, she and her daughters went to adopt a kitten. They ended up adopting three—Lucky, Peach (seen above), and Fern.
Love families with cats and dogs. Douglas even has similar coloring to lovely Drew.
Lea Michele & Sheila
Michele loves animals so much that she even once saved a 6-kitten litter that she found wandering around the Paramount Studios premises where she was filming Glee. She ended up adopting two of them, one of which is Sheila and the other Claude, while giving the others to Heather Morris and Glee’s directors.
Charlize Theron & Johnny Utah, Berkley
Theron is an avid advocate of animal rights, having grown up on a farm in South Africa. She works with a number of animal rights organizations and has a number of rescue dogs, with two of them, Johnny Utah and Berkley, seen above. Her most well-known dog is Tucker, who she adopted back in 2001.
Brooks Laich & Koda
Brooks adopted Koda the husky from a shelter back in 2018, who at that time joined Lexi and Harley, the King Charles spaniels, who have unfortunately passed away since then.
Simon Cowell & Daisy, Freddie, Squiddly, Diddly
Simon is the owner of four dogs now: Squiddly and Diddly, Yorkshire Terriers who joined the family in 2013. Since then, two other doggos were also adopted, namely Freddie and Daisy, as seen above. Freddie grew up with his mother, who had sadly passed away, and Simon inherited Freddie in 2016, while Daisy was a rescue picked up in Barbados in 2018.
Kellan Lutz & Koda
Kellan has been a devout advocate of pet adoption as opposed to buying them from breeders—so much, in fact, that he was even featured in animal adoption campaigns with his other dog Kola. Now he’s the hooman companion of an Australian shepherd named Koda.
Liev Schreiber & Woody, Willow And Scout
Liev is the proud companion of three rescues, Woody, Willow, and Scout. Woody and Willow were picked up from the set of Live with Kelly and Ryan, which featured them as rescues from Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Just months ago, he adopted another pooch named Scout from Tobie's Small Dog Rescue.
Hilary Duff & Lucy And Ivan
Back in 2018, Hilary and her partner Matthew Koma adopted a senior dog named Lucy. Soon before this, the couple made a pretty unorthodox choice in adoption—they also got themselves an alpaca named Ivan, who now lives on an alpaca farm until Duff and Koma decide to become farm people.
Chelsea Handler & Bert And Bernice
Previously, Handler had two chow chows named Tammy and Chunk, who were adopted from kill shelters. However, after a long lifetime together, Handler had to say goodbye to both almost three years ago. To honor them, she got two new chow chows from a shelter and named them Bert and Bernice.
I remember how much she adored Chunk. Heck, I remember when she got him. Sorry to hear he’s gone.
Luke Bryan & Kimmie
Luke is the owner of an animal rescue that he first launched in memory of his late niece Sadie. And his home is just like his rescue—like a zoo—housing over 20 various animals, including ponies, chickens, and goats. Before, they had a dog named Poochie, which sadly passed away just a week later, but now are fostering another good girl named Kimmie.
Anne Hathaway & Kenobi And Esmeralda
Earlier this year, Hathaway adopted a terrier named Kenobi. He joined her family where there was also a chocolate lab named Esmeralda. She named Kenobi after her favorite Star Wars character because, c’mon, it’s Star Wars—who wouldn’t call their dogs that?!
Obi Wan? NO, SHOULD HAVE NAMED HIM ANAKIN! I mean, have you seen his face?
Rachel Bilson & Thurman Murman
Thurman Murman is Bilson’s latest addition to her doggie family. The shaggy grey poodle mix joins Bilson’s other dog Penny, who she got with her ex-boyfriend Adan Brody. Apparently, Thurman Murman has his own wardrobe of leashes, which makes him somewhat of a fashionable pup.
The thing I love most about this is that all these pets just see their humans as people, loving, wonderful people, the same way that they's see you or I. Wish we could all do the same.
Kristen Bell adopted a dog who was dying so the dog could have a good last of her life :D
I adopted kitten from the streets 9 years ago, 5 years later, another one, both were around 3 months, both females and both really human friendly which probably means someone tossed them out rather than bother with spaying them. On the plus side, at least they waited until kittens were 3 months old. Now they live together with me, and I would adopt more but I love in tiny building apartment and there is literally no space for another cat. I feed regularly strays, but sometimes I get threats for that, and some people threaten to poison strays which bothers me a lot. I wish I was rich to build a large farm/sanctuary for abandoned animals where they could all be happy. I keep on hoping but well, still in tiny apartment and still no wealth in sight.
I've honestly become very judgmental towards people who don't adopt and rather shop. I know there are some very understandable reasons sometimes (hypoallergenic animals, etc.) and I'm not talking about these. But "I just want this breed" has become a very invaluable justification to me. I'm not proud of being judgmental and I try to direct that negative energy into supporting people when they're considering to adopt and into helping a cat shelter. But it just feels wrong that you would choose to not save a life when you so easily could and when you're getting an animal companion anyway.
Ricky Gervais just adopted a new cat. https://coleandmarmalade.com/2020/10/08/ricky-gervais-just-found-love-again-after-losing-his-beloved-feline-companion/
The thing I love most about this is that all these pets just see their humans as people, loving, wonderful people, the same way that they's see you or I. Wish we could all do the same.
Kristen Bell adopted a dog who was dying so the dog could have a good last of her life :D
I adopted kitten from the streets 9 years ago, 5 years later, another one, both were around 3 months, both females and both really human friendly which probably means someone tossed them out rather than bother with spaying them. On the plus side, at least they waited until kittens were 3 months old. Now they live together with me, and I would adopt more but I love in tiny building apartment and there is literally no space for another cat. I feed regularly strays, but sometimes I get threats for that, and some people threaten to poison strays which bothers me a lot. I wish I was rich to build a large farm/sanctuary for abandoned animals where they could all be happy. I keep on hoping but well, still in tiny apartment and still no wealth in sight.
I've honestly become very judgmental towards people who don't adopt and rather shop. I know there are some very understandable reasons sometimes (hypoallergenic animals, etc.) and I'm not talking about these. But "I just want this breed" has become a very invaluable justification to me. I'm not proud of being judgmental and I try to direct that negative energy into supporting people when they're considering to adopt and into helping a cat shelter. But it just feels wrong that you would choose to not save a life when you so easily could and when you're getting an animal companion anyway.
Ricky Gervais just adopted a new cat. https://coleandmarmalade.com/2020/10/08/ricky-gervais-just-found-love-again-after-losing-his-beloved-feline-companion/