Dog and goat serving as mayor raise money for a playground in the US

A goat and a dog who were each elected mayor have helped raise enough money to renovate a community playground in Vermont, US.

In 2018, Fair Haven residents elected Lincoln the goat as its honorary mayor. The idea of pet mayor elections to raise money for the playground came from local town manager, Joe Gunter.

Lincoln helped raise about $10,000 (£7,380) while the current mayor, Murfee, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, has raised $20,000 (£14,770), Mr Gunter told the Rutland Herald.

The town also chipped in another $20,000 (£14,723.79) .

Linda Barker, who owns Murfee, said that when she spoke about his involvement in politics, she thought it would be easy to raise money through T-shirts but then the virus struck the country and she shifted to making masks instead.

Since the pandemic, she has also raised more than $5,000 dollars (£3,690) from nearly 1,000 masks and will be making another round for Valentine’s Day.

Ironically, the honorary mayor is not welcome on the playground as Ms Barker said there’s a “no dogs allowed” sign.

“Murfee is going to take that up with the town,” Ms Barker said with a chuckle. “He’s going to contest that.”

The town was also recently awarded a $50,000 (£36,930) grant from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.