Mr. Mayor, can I get a quote? Sorry, did you say, “Bahhh?” Great, thanks.
If you are anything like me, sometimes you find yourself asking, “What does a mayor do?” because you honestly just forget about mayors very frequently. The answer to that question is, of course, that they oversee a city’s main departments and are responsible for overseeing the future planning and financial decisions of a city.
However, the responsibilities of the mayor vary from city to city based on the local power structure. There are some cities where the mayors don’t do much of anything at all and the title is strictly ceremonial–which is a good thing because, in these cities, the mayor is not a person at all. In these cities, the mayor is (or was) an animal.
Who are some of these animals appointed government officials? How did they get elected to office? What does this have to do with travel? Let me go ahead and answer that last question right away, so that this article does not get thrown in the trash: It is important that you know if a town you are headed to has (or has had) an appointed animal government official in case you’re traveling with, say, a labrador you want to instill with a sense of civic duty.
Now, to answer those first two questions.