Stephen Lam / Reuters
- American politics is a dog-eat-dog world — and sometimes that means an actual dog is in office.
- Small towns in California, Minnesota, Colorado, and Kentucky have all had dog mayors, and San Francisco had one for one day.
- Here are the some of the country’s politicians with the loudest bark.
- Visit INSIDER.com for more stories.
There are dogged leaders, and then there are actual dog leaders. Across the US, we’ve found nine dogs who have been, or will soon be, elected mayor.
Small towns in California, Minnesota, Colorado, Kentucky, as well as San Francisco have all had dog mayors.
Mostly, the dogs are figureheads. Their elections are used to raise money for animal shelters, or for the towns. Elected dogs also tend to last a long time in office, in dog-years anyway.
While they’re not as controversial as some of their peers, at least one dog leader sparked international headlines and was condemned by China as a sign of failing democracy.
Continue on to see very good dogs who have been in office in towns across the US. As we didn’t want to leave any animals out, we’ve also included two goat mayors, and a cat mayor.
Bosco, a black Labrador-Rottweiler, was mayor of Sunol, California, from 1981 to 1994.
Gustonian Gifts / Facebook
Bosco defeated two humans to win the 1981 election, running as a "re-pup-lican" with campaign promises including: "a bone in every dish, a cat in every tree, and a fire hydrant in every corner", the Mercury News reported.
He served his town (which had about 1,000 residents) for 13 years until he died in 1994. He did go missing for a week in 1987, but ambled back in, mysteriously with two new flea collars, and was rewarded with some beef jerky.
During his tenure, China’s Peoples Daily newspaper published a story about his election, calling it a failure of democracy. Later when a democracy rally about Tiananmen Square was held in San Francisco, Mayor Bosco was invited and joined in.
Lucy Lou, a border collie, was the first female mayor of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. She served from 2008 to 2016.
Former Mayor Lucy Lou / Facebook
Lucy Lou was the first female mayor of Rabbit Hash, and ran on the campaign slogan: "the b—- you can count on". Rabbit Hash is an incorporated community and does not need a human mayor. Instead, people can pay $1 and vote as many times as they like. The fundraiser has gone toward town improvements.
The border collie stepped down from her role as mayor to run unsuccessfully for president in 2016. She died in 2018.
Brynneth Pawltro, a pit bull, succeeded Lucy Lou as mayor of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, in 2016, beating out a cat and a donkey.
Mayor Brynn
Mayor Brynn follows a long line of animal mayors in Rabbit Hash, beginning with a dog called Goofy who was elected in 1998. A black labrador called Junior Cochran replaced Goofy, who was replaced by the border collie, Lucy Lou.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (James Pasley)