Can you believe a town has a cat for a Mayor?
This was really interesting to me...and kind of extraordinary too...So sorry about his bad fortune, but his prospects look good.

(CNN) -- He's a beloved mayor, who's held the top office in Talkeetna, Alaska, for 16 years. So imagine the townfolks' shock when he was attacked.

Brutally mauled.

By a dog.

Oh, did we mention, this mayor's a cat?

Mayor Stubbs, a yellow tabby with more responsibility than your average cat, survived -- but is in bad shape.

A punctured lung. A fractured sternum. A 5-inch gash on his side.
Doctors took out a chest tube Tuesday, and he was breathing on his own for the first time since the weekend attack.

"It's a shame," said Ashley Kearns, who works at a pizza shop in the small town about 110 miles north of Anchorage. "He's the mayor, it's not a joke. I know it's ridiculous, but the town is run really well."

Profile: Mayor of Alaska village walks on four paws

Profile: Mayor of Alaska village walks on four paws.

Political career

The story of how Mayor Stubbs rose to power made international news after he was found in a box full of kittens in front of Nagley's General Store in town.

Lauri Stec, manager of the general store, decided to keep one kitten and named it "Stubbs" because he had no tail.

Soon afterward, residents weren't happy with any of the human candidates in the upcoming mayoral election and voted for Stubbs as a write-in candidate.

The kitten won, set up its unofficial mayor's office in the general store and spent more than a decade running the town.

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