Dan Shannon is PETA’s Animals in Sports Campaign coordinator.
Sign of School Spirit Based on Sad Story
Cougar fans at the University of Houston salute their teams by tucking in their ring finger toward the palm. Back in 1953, members of the fraternity in charge of taking care of the university’s mascot, Shasta I, slammed the cougar’s front paw in a car door, cutting off one of her toes. UH’s rivals found out about Shasta’s injury and taunted UH players with this hand gesture, which Cougar fans adopted.
Animal mascots, unlike quarterbacks, don’t get star treatment. Their almost constant confinement ensures that they go mad from loneliness, frustration, and deprivation. Many animals used as mascots have suffered injuries. Bevo, a steer used by the University of Texas, has endured at least two painful brandings, and two mascot goats used by the United States Naval Academy died from poisoning. Even if animal mascots survive their stints without losing limbs or lives, it is hard to imagine that they enjoy the stress of their brief but often terrifying appearances before crowds of screaming fans.
From Cute and Cuddly to…Liability
When animal mascots grow from cute babies into big, dangerous adults, they are simply replaced. Baylor University in Texas replaces its mascots every two to three years. Former Baylor bears have been dumped at zoos around Texas—in 1995, Austin Zoo officials took in a bear and report that although Baylor officials claim to “love” and “miss” their retired bears, no one from the university has ever called to check on him.
All pro teams and most other teams have nixed the use of real animal mascots in favor of human mascots.
The human mascot of the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots notes that “while live animals must be tucked away in a corner of a stadium and are rarely seen during the game, a human mascot in costume can be visible during the entire event.”
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Spur USC to Change Its Image
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 PETA’s cheerleaders, the Rooster Boosters, want University of South Carolina officials to remove the spur from the Gamecocks logo. Cockfighting enthusiasts attach long spurs made from sharpened razorblades to the birds’ feet to make fights more “exciting,” i.e., bloodier. The birds suffer slashed wings and legs, punctured lungs and split eyes.
Get the fighting spur off the logo. Write:
Dr. John M. Palms
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
Fax: 803-777-3264
E-Mail: palms@sc.edu
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Urge the following university officials to replace live animal mascots with human performers.
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Write:
• Chancellor Mark A. Emmert
Louisiana State University
156 Thomas Boyd Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Tel.: 225-578-6977
Fax: 225-344-1470
E-Mail: Emmert@LSU.edu
• Robert B. Sloan, Jr.
President
Baylor University
P.O. Box 97096
Waco, TX 76798-7096
Tel.: 254-710-3555
Fax: 254-710-3557
E-Mail: Robert_Sloan@baylor.edu
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