# Is "Dogcatcher" an elected position anywhere?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dogcatcher-an-elected-position-anywhere/813934>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 10, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dogcatcher-an-elected-position-anywhere/813934 "2018-05-10T19:40:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dogcatcher-an-elected-position-anywhere/813934/21 "2018-05-16T16:16:38Z")

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So everybody knows what a prothonotary is but me?

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dogcatcher-an-elected-position-anywhere/813934/22 "2018-05-16T16:27:44Z")

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> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> So everybody knows what a prothonotary is but me?

No, but we haven’t been particularly moved to look it up or report on the results. It’s what some courts of law call their chief clerk. The wiki article notes that the term was once commonly used in the US, but currently only Pennsylvania and Delaware call their chief clerks “prothonotaries”. The article also notes:

> [@](#):
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> U.S. President Harry S. Truman was introduced to a prothonotary during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh in 1948. It is rumored that Truman’s first reaction upon hearing the term “prothonotary” was to say “What the hell is a prothonotary?”[10] Truman is also attributed with saying that “prothonotary” was the most impressive-sounding political title in the U.S.[citation needed]

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**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dogcatcher-an-elected-position-anywhere/813934/23 "2018-05-16T16:31:59Z")

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In the current election cycle for Governor of Michigan, one candidate replied to that old saw by saying that as city health commissioner animal control had been one of his responsibilities and that they had reduced dog bites by X percentage and decreased the number of animals euthanized by Y percentage. Good comeback.

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**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dogcatcher-an-elected-position-anywhere/813934/24 "2018-05-16T16:43:15Z")

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Cities, like Chicago, have a more encompassing department called, “Animal Control”. The current Animal Control Director here is Susan Russell, and she was appointed by the Mayor.

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**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dogcatcher-an-elected-position-anywhere/813934/25 "2018-05-16T18:38:03Z")

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> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> So everybody knows what a prothonotary is but me?

[Some kind of bird, I think.](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Prothonotary_Warbler/id)

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