Master cat

Tama with her jaunty cap - Image from CNN

Some animals do have exalted jobs. Like Tama the nine year old cat. Tama was born on 29th April 1999 and she had a pretty simple life near her home in a grocery store near the Kishi train station in Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan until a couple of years ago. The small town with a few thousand people was the last stop in what had been a falling train line. In 2006 the Wakayama Electric Railway converted all stations on the Kishigawa Line from manned to unmanned to save costs and station masters were selected from employees of local businesses near each station. For the Kinokawa station, Toshiko Koyama, the grocer was selected as the station master. Koyama had adopted Tama among other stray cats and would regularly feed them at the station.

Tama's life changed in 2007 when railway officials decided to make her the official station master in which her primary duty would be to greet passengers. They gave her a station master's hat and free cat food as her salary. Amused passengers began to enjoy Tama's presence and ridership grew by 17% in one month. Tama's star status was elevated when this year she was given the title of "super station master" complete with a new office - a converted ticket booth furnished with a litter box.

Watch a couple of videos of Tama