There are many reasons why people might think twice before leaving $8 billion in their will to be lavished on dogs. And the most obvious reason? Because they're dogs, for Pete's sake!

Few people had a very high opinion of Leona Helmsley even before it emerged that she was leaving a bequest of up to $8 billion to animal care charities (see page 4). The New York hotel tycoon had already tarnished her reputation by announcing that “only little people pay taxes” when she was jailed for tax evasion in 1989. She stained it further when, after her death last year, Hemsley's will revealed that she planned to leave $12 million to Trouble, her Maltese bitch.

Everybody likes a dog. Except maybe a sheep. And every good dog deserves a bone. But $8 billion buys more bones than even the hungriest pooch could get through. At $4.50 a chew, Leona Helmsley's bequest could purchase 1,777,777,777 dog chews. More usefully, it could buy 800 million mosquito nets for the Third World. Or 80 million tents for homeless earthquake victims.

You could train 210,000 American guide dogs. Or build 16 hospitals. Or launch eight space shuttles. Or take 400 trips as a space tourist on a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station. Or buy every canvas Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon had ever painted, several times over.

Helmsley's bequest is around 30 times what Barack Obama spent on his campaign to win the Democratic nomination for the White House. Hell, with $8 billion to spend, even Hillary Clinton might have triumphed. Or else she could have spoilt herself with ten million new pantsuits.

But $8 billion? For dogs? It's the meek who are supposed to inherit the earth, not the mutts.