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‘Purrfect’ mayor of tiny Alaskan town attacked by dog

By Chelsea Cariker
Sept 5, 2013

An Alaskan town is temporarily left without a mayor, as their feline head honcho recovers from a vicious dog attack.

Stubbs the Mayor Cat sustained a punctured lung, bruised hips, a deep gash on his side, and a fractured sternum in an attack by a loose dog on Saturday. He is currently sedated and under veterinary care.

Stubbs is the honorary leader of Talkeetna, Alaska, a tiny town which serves as a stop-over for travelers to Mount McKinley, North America’s tallest peak. He was elected in a write-in campaign 15 years ago, and has served as the town’s only mayor ever since.

“He’s everybody’s guy,” Stubbs’ owner, Lauri Stec, told the Associated Press. The next few days will be crucial in the cat’s recovery, she said. Stubbs has begun to sit up and eat, and a tube inserted in his lung has been removed.
Stec manages Nagley’s General Store in Talkeetna, which is the injured feline’s home and prowling ground.

“We all love him,” town resident Geoff Pfeiffer told AP. Pfieffer is a waiter at the West Rib Pub and Cafe, which has developed a signature cocktail for their feline regular, a water-filled wine glass with a catnip garnish, AP reported.

Pfeiffer likens Stubbs’ celebrity status to that of Elvis in the small town of 900, he told AP. Stubbs has recently attracted national attention as well with a series of news features, a Twitter account, and a Facebook page with more than 30,000 followers.
On Wednesday morning, “Stubbs” tweeted: “If the dog community believes b/c the Mayor was declawed he won’t fight back they’re wrong. Dead wrong. Old Yeller wrong.”

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Chelsea Cariker

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