A city councilor from White Settlement, Texas has learned the most important lesson in politics: never mess with cats!

Elzie Clements waged a one-man war against Browser, a 6-year-old tabby cat who lives in the town's library. The drama began after a city worker complained he hadn't been allowed to bring his puppy to work. To make things fair, Clements proposed a ban on animals in city buildings.

But Browser isn't just any cat, he's one of the library's workers and an important member of the community. The library's staff weren't prepared to give him up without a fight.

Browser had been adopted as a kitten to keep the library mouse-free. Since then, he's become a mascot for the building, and the town's children love to visit and read books to him.

When the librarians heard the ban would include Browser, they started a petition to let him stay.

Soon, they had attracted attention from around the world.  More than 800 people signed a petition to let Browser keep his job, and the town's mayor Ron White was bombarded with social media messages asking him not to fire the cat.

At the council meeting to decide Browser's fate, he had so many supporters that they had to be cleared from the council chamber.

Thankfully, the city voted 3-0 to keep him. Mayor White says as far as he's concerned, Bowser can stay in the library "as long as he wishes to continue his duties as mascot and reading helper for the children at the library."

As for councilor Clements, his proposal may have come back to haunt him. Last year he lost his seat in a landslide election, meanwhile the city has named Browser "Library Cat for Life."

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