Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2024 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Mayor Brynneth Pawltro

Facebook

The old saying, "dogs drool, cats rule" may be catchy but don't tell that to the mayor of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky.  She is the fourth in a line of mayoral canines to hold the office.  For the residents of this small community, dogs definitely rule!

***************************

If you despair of the current state of politics in our country, a small town in Kentucky may have a solution. Last November, the residents of Rabbit Hash elected a three-year old as their mayor – a dog, named Brynneth Pawltro, a pit bull who won by a landslide over her eight opponents, which included a cat and a donkey.

Mayor Brynn is not the first dog to be mayor of Rabbit Hash. A mixed breed named Goofy was elected back in 1998. He was succeeded by Junior, a black lab, and then by a Border Collie named Lucy Lou.

See, Rabbit Hash is an unincorporated town that doesn’t really need an official mayor. So the Rabbit Hash Historical Society allows folks to vote for their favorite candidate, at a dollar a vote. Voting is open to anyone who wants to participate and you can vote as many times as you want.

When last year’s ballots were tallied, Brynneth Pawltro, or “Brynn”, had 3,367 votes, over a thousand more than her closest opponent. In all the election raised almost $9,000 for the Historical Society, which will use the funds to help rebuild the town’s general store that was destroyed by a fire last year.

The new mayor’s owner, Jordie Bamforth, is studying to be a veterinarian. She adopted the rescue animal as a puppy, and entered her dog in the mayoral race to dispel the myth that pit bulls are aggressive. Instead, Brynn is good-natured and friendly, and will make a great ambassador for the town.

In case you think Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, is unique, regular listeners may remember the story of Mayor Stubbs, a fifteen-year-old cat who was elected mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, when he was just a kitten. Voters at the time were not too impressed with the mayoral candidates, so they launched a write-in campaign. When the votes were counted, Stubbs was the mayor. Sadly, Mayor Stubbs passed away this week; he was twenty years old. He had held the office for two decades.

You can keep up with the Mayor Brynneth Pawltro by visiting her Facebook page. This is one political animal that can actually make you smile, when you’re speaking of pets.

__>^..^<__

Mindy Norton has been “Speaking of Pets” on Alabama Public Radio since 1995.
News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.