CAT HAS BEEN A MAYOR OF ALASKA TOWN FOR 15 YEARS

There is a town in Alaska that has had a cat as mayor for 15 years. The cat named Stubbs has been the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska for nearly all of his life -- no joke.
It's been that way for more than a decade in the small tourist town that boasts nearly 900 residents.

The part-manx was named honorary mayor shortly after his birth, and now locals all know the cat as "Mayor Stubbs."

"He was just in the Alaska Magazine, and he's been featured in a few different things," said Lauri Stec, who works at Nagley's General Store in Talkeetna, where Stubbs hangs out most of the time.

As the story goes, 15 years ago several of the town residents didn't like the candidates who were running for mayor of Talkeetna, so as a joke, they encouraged enough people to elect Stubbs the cat as a write-in candidate, and he actually won.

Now, thanks to Stubbs, local tour guides have a little fun with the thousands of tourists who come through the town each summer.