Oh to be a dog with the last name Helmsley

The late hotelier Leona Helmsley, who was as mean as she was rich, left her vast fortune to her dogs, a NY Times story reports. Helmsley, who died last year of heart failure at age 87, was worth $5 to $8 billion.

Two anonymous sources who saw the will said her first priority was "to help indigent people, the second to provide for the care and welfare of dogs. A year later, they said, she deleted the first goal."

Screw poor people! Man's best friend needs a leg up. Yuk yuk yuk.

It's possible that the folks in charge of her money could divert the funds to animal charities like the Humane Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Veterinary schools and canine research may benefit, too.

Her money would "be worth almost 10 times the combined assets of all 7,381 animal-related nonprofit groups reporting to the Internal Revenue Service in 2005," the NYTimes estimates. A real bone-anza. I mean dogsend!