Chairman Miaow: retired Hermitage cats to elect a president

Cats who have retired from service as mice-catchers at St Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum are set to elect their very own (human) president.

According to vet and director of the St Petersburg Cats Museum Anna Kondrateva, there are currently five candidates for the role, each of which represents a significant project to improve the lives of cats in the city.

The voting procedure consists of two stages. In the first, visitors vote for their favourite project. The animals themselves take part in the second stage – a bowl of dry food is placed in front of a portrait of each of the candidates, and the winner is the portrait that attracts the most feline “voters”.

Source: Lenta (in Russian)