15. The Rhino Candidate
Brazil’s biggest city, Sao Paolo, was reeling under a series of scandals in the 1950s. Corruption was rampant, garbage went uncollected, sewers overflowed, inflation was rising, and supplies of basic foodstuffs were dwindling. As City Council elections neared in October of 1959, voters had to choose from amongst 540 candidates, ranging from the uninspiring to the outright criminal.
Faced with such dismal options, some students decided: “Better elect a rhinoceros than an ass“. Their candidate of choice was a five-year-old female black rhinoceros named Cacareco, residing in the local zoo.