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College mascots: Is it time to put the tiger in the tank?
By Gina Spadafori
August 31, 2007
Last night, watching LSU crush poor Mississippi State, I was thinking about mascots. See, LSU retired its tiger last year (he later died, age 17), and found a new “Mike the Tiger” after an extensive search.
Mississippi State is another college with an animal mascot, an English Bulldog named Bully. (Although theirs is no way as famous as Uga, the University of Georgia’s bulldog, who among other things was featured in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”– the book, not the movie, bah — and is so popular that my friend Harry Jay Altman, a serious-minded Superior Court judge in South Georgia and a UofGeorgia law school grad with UGA football season tickets, went all girly-giddy when he found out he won the chance to have his picture taken with the dog.)
USA Today looks at college animal mascots and their loyal — dare I say rabid? — followers. The Wall Street Journal had a piece a couple weeks back (subscription only, sorry) about how times are changing for these animals. The exotics used to be kept in crappy little cages near the stadiums, but now, when they’re not working, they spend their time in massive enclosures built with the natural environment and creature comfort in mind. From the USA Today piece:
At Baylor University in Waco, Texas, donors covered the cost of the $1 million habitat of twin black bears Joy and Lady. At LSU in Baton Rouge, Mike the Tiger’s home is three times the size of the house the university provides its chancellor. Cost of the 15,000-square-foot habitat: almost $3 million, covered by donors.
And at the University of North Alabama in Florence, boosters have financed a habitat for lion siblings Una and Leo worth $1.3 million. They also pay about $35,000 a year to care for the two.
Not bad work if you can get it, I suppose, but of course, there are parents who complain the animals are given better care than students. I say: If you can’t treat them well, then don’t have them at all.
The animals, that is, not the students. Parents, quit whining: Dorm rooms and tight budgets build character.
PETA, of course, has to weigh in and I wish the media would quit calling this publicity-seeking money-making anti-pets machine for comment on every animal story. But in the case of exotics like tigers and buffalo, I kind of have to agree with them. Even with the nicest digs to live in, getting dragged out to a football game isn’t ideal for wild animals. Maybe it is time to stuff an undergrad in a hot tiger suit and call it a day.
Just don’t mess with the dogs. I love me some Uga, Reveille (the Texas A&M collie) and especially Smokey, the University of Tennessee’s blue-tick coonhound. Ah-rrrrrooooooo!
***
Dog-related and the best dog picture of the day, week, month and maybe year: The Story of Ricky Bobby Baby Jesus, the terrorist-fighting Labrador retriever. Over on Terrierman. You go, Ricky-Bob!
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http://www.api4animals.org/
API is an interesting organization that focusses on exotic animals. You should check them out.
Comment by joel — August 31, 2007 @ 8:30 am
My alma mater, Arizona State University, uses costumed people for their mascot. Since our mascot is Sparky, “the Sun Devil”, it would be hard to find a real live one, anyway.
The University of Arizona uses costumes also for their “Wildcat” (bobcat) mascots, although they did keep live bobcats until the 1960’s.
Comment by shadepuppy — August 31, 2007 @ 8:35 am
Yeah, I’m pretty familiar with API, which is based in Sacramento (where I live).
The API took the prize for the most idiotic response of all to the pet-food recall, dropping me an e-mail to argue that the time was right to urge the conversion of dogs and cats to “vegan” diets.
Hello? Ever heard of wheat gluten?
Again, if you want a vegan pet, get a rabbit. Cats are obligate carnivores, and dogs are carnivores that can survive but are not designed to be vegans.
Take a look at those teeth and then get back to me on the whole vegan cat and dog thing, API.
Their IRS filings do seem to be on the up-and-up, with most money going to programs, not salaries and overhead. So that’s good, but beyond that it’s up to everyone to decide for himself or herself if any group’s ideological bent is in line with one’s personal beliefs. (A hard job with some animal-advocacy groups, which hide their true positions.)
By the way, Joel, do you know that the humane handling of animals destined to be food can be a goal in and of itself, not a “sell-out” or “intermediate position” as thought of by animal-rights advocates? I buy what you characterize as “happy meat,” from local and regional sources, and do so as a result of my own beliefs.
Love your blog, even though I don’t agree with many of your “that’s a given” starting points on animal issues.
Thanks for the comments.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 31, 2007 @ 8:55 am
Great story about Ricky Bobby Baby Jesus (renamed Ricky Bobby due to deployment to Morocco), but it worried me to read that he was one of a number of Guidedog for the Blind dropouts. Then they mentioned that some “puppy raisers” are prison inmates [Puppies behind Bars, IMPACT, etc.], which is a great idea. I can see why those dogs released from the programs can’t go back to their original puppy raiser, but I hope that the programs include adoption back-ups for those that aren’t suitable as Guide dogs or other service dogs. The lists on Puppies behind Bars shows a long list of graduates, but there’s also a list of dogs that have been “released” and “medical releases”. I read a companion piece that says the puppies raised by inmates are “more stable, well adjusted” dogs - per a former Guide Dog official, but there are still doggie drop-outs. I hate to see any socialized dog on the e-list at a shelter, but it just seems worse when they were originally raised in hopes of being a Guide Dog. I’m so glad that it worked out for Ricky Bobby.
Comment by shadepuppy — August 31, 2007 @ 9:12 am
I’m a University of Texas student and every time I see our live mascot Bevo XIV, at an event around campus or a football game, I get depressed. Poor Bevo always looks aloof, like he’s been sedated or something but he’s supposedly just been bred to be docile. At football games, he’s never in the shade and doesn’t have water outside with him even while he’ll be out there for a couple of hours. My school believes that Bevo should never be drugged during the games and yet for some reason, he is usually near this large cannon that booms whenever we make a touchdown and he gets spooked sometimes when it goes off. There are usually several handlers with him, but he has gotten loose during a game before. I don’t understand why we need him there because there is always someone dressed up in a Bevo costume as well…
Comment by Annie — August 31, 2007 @ 11:13 am
Bevo is always heavily sedated!
Comment by chris — November 10, 2008 @ 6:15 pm