Caturday felids: Official Kittehs

As reported by the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinal, the mayor of Sharon, Wisconsin, is a CAT, a wandering tubby beast named Freddy.

. . . the cat known as the mayor of Sharon, or Freddy, lives at the Village Hall, greeting folks who come to pay water or property tax bills. He meows to go out twice a day to make his rounds in the small downtown, visiting the post office, the back doors of restaurants and at least one tavern, as well as stopping to catch mice in a wooded area across from the Village Hall.

He’s not averse to a little recreational drug use, which turns him into the Charlie Sheen of cats:

Even though he has the Village Hall to himself on weekends and evenings, he’s only gotten into trouble once – when someone accidentally left some catnip on a desk. When Kunkel and Redenius came in the following day, they found papers strewed about on the desk and the catnip scattered. Other than that, he leaves everything alone.

Aside from a great personality and boatloads of charm, apparently the mayor has an acute sense of time.

“It’s really funny. We’ll let him out in the afternoon and we’ll say ‘Freddy, you need to be back by 4:15 when we’re closing,’ ” said Redenius. “And he usually is. If he isn’t, he’s usually somewhere else and we have to start calling and knocking on doors.”

Here’s a video of hizzonor:

And from across the Pacific comes another kitteh official: Tama.  As reported by The Guardian, this female calico (all calicos are female, of course, and if you don’t know why, read about it here) is official stationmaster of the Kishi station in Japan.  The station was underused until they appointed Tama stationmaster (and equipped her with a tiny hat); traffic then rose sharply.  Hundreds of tourists visit Kishi to see Tama, who’s famous in Japan.

Here’s Tama wearing her official uniform:

Our Japanese correspondent Yokohamamama reports that Tama’s tag says “Station Master TAMA, and, in smaller letters at the bottom, Kishi Eki (Kishi Station).”

According to the LOLzy Wikipedia article, Tama doesn’t work alone:

Her staff consisted of two feline assistant stationmasters, Chibi (ちび^?, born May 12, 2000) and an orange tabby cat named Miiko (ミーコ^?, October 3, 1998 – July 20, 2009). Now only Chibi remains. Tama appeared in a documentary about cats titled La Voie du chat in French and Katzenlektionen in German by Italian filmmaker Myriam Tonelotto, broadcast on European TV channel ARTE in April 2009.

Kishigawa Line announced that it was releasing a new “Tama Densha” (たま電車, Tama railcar/train^?) train that was customized with cartoon depictions of Tama. It began running in spring 2009.

And here’s a video. Sadly, it’s in Japanese, but you get the idea:

Cats bring joy to nearly everyone, and dull the pain of life.  This cartoon shows why they should be allowed to enter another profession: MEDICINE:

h/t:  Sigmund