Amnesty For Mr Tinkles

I am not a cat person.

I am a dog person but that does not prevent me from being sympathetic to felines when they are typically cast in films as scheming villains and evil malingerers.

Take Mr Tinkles for example.

In "Cats and Dogs", the movie, he is a white and very fluffy Persian and the constant and faithful companion of Mr Mason the bed ridden and semi unconscious owner of a Christmas Tree flocking factory.

However, the cutesy Tinkles is the mastermind behind a dastardly project to oust dogs from their rightful place as Man's Best Friend by making all humans allergic to them.

Of course the canines win through with the axis of evil, Mr Tinkles, sent away to live in a household destined for an endless round of tea party gatherings and being dressed up in a variety of girly costumes.

I firmly believe that Cats do have a rightful place in the world and I am therefore fully supportive of the move by a Siberian township to elect a cat as their new Mayor as a protest against the ineptitude and corruption of their current civic leadership.

The town, Barnual, population 700,000 overwhelmingly by 91 percent voted for Barsik, an 18 month old  Scottish Fold breed to be the new head of the council.

VOTE FOR ME

Granted, only 5,400 bothered to cast a vote but the outcome was still decisive in the minds of the residents. A crowdsourcing campaign was also launched towards the cost for a huge billboard in the town centre with the election slogan of "Only mice don't vote for Barsik" along with a cutesy picture.

The Scottish Fold is quite a recent breed which can be traced back to 1961 when a white barn cat was found in Perthshire, Scotland. The main distinguishing feature , hence the name, is folded or floppy ears caused by a gene mutation. This owl-like appearance and a characteristic of being, for a cat, unusually loving has made the breed most sought after.

The look in Barsik's eyes has been taken to be one of concern for the townsfolk.

The former and human administrator of Barnaul had been in power for 5 years during which he was accused of abusing his powers and misappropriating a sum of 11 million roubles ( around £100,000)  mainly through the sale of publicly owned land to developers with connections to his own family. His son, having fled to Thailand is also under investigation for fraud and embezzlement.

There has been precedent for cats holding public office in other parts of the world including Stubbs, elected to the position of mayor in an Alaskan town about 10 years ago.

Unfortunately, in spite of the massive backing for Barsik any final appointment is down to the Siberian Regional Governor. He is not thought to be a cat-lover

As for the crowdsourcing initiative, well, it has also been victim to a bit of apathy and only 1400 Roubles (£13) are currently in the kitty.