Kansas official rules that Angus, a dog, can't run for governor

Delivering a blow to pets everywhere, election officials in Kansas have ruled that Angus, a dog, will not be able to run for governor. 

According to local CBS affiliate KWCH12-TV, the Kansas secretary of state's office found that Angus, a dog from Hutchinson, Kansas, is not capable of serving the duties required of the governor's office. Currently, there are no state rules or bylaws that dictate whether or not a dog can run for office. This technicality led Angus' family to formulate a bid for the governor's seat.

"Basically, I was reading some stories about the young teenagers that were entering the governor's race and I thought, 'I wonder what it takes to be in the race,' and I thought, 'I wonder if my dog, Angus could run,'" Angus' owner and would-be campaign chair Terran Woolley told KWCH. 

Angus, 23 years in "dog years," promised "soft couches, Tempur-Pedic beds" and a "completely anti-squirrel agenda" if elected, according to his Facebook page.

Woolley plugged Angus' fitness for office: "I do believe that he is a caring, nurturing individual who cares about the best for humanity and all creatures other than squirrels."

While he would have been one of the more unconventional gubernatorial candidates, Angus is far from a trailblazer -- at least two other towns in the U.S. have elected pooches to political office. In Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, population of 315, a dog has been elected four times to be mayor of the small town north of Lexington. Most recently, according to local CBS affiliate WCCO, Brynneth Pawltro, a 3-year old pit bull, beat out a cat, a chicken and a donkey, among others, to become the town's mayor in June of last year. 

WCCO reports that Rabbit Hash has been electing animal mayors since the 1990s. Pawltro's assistants are Bourbon, an Australian Shepard, and Lady Stone, a border collie. Unlike the gubernatorial job that Angus was angling for, the role of mayor in Rabbit Hash is ceremonial only - there are no powers associated with the job.

In August of 2016, a Minneapolis town elected 9-year old Duke, a Great Pyrenees to serve his third term as mayor of Cormorant (also an honorary gig).