Tonight’s Always Late (on ESPN+) had a segment on animal mascots. There was a decent feature on Shasta, of course she pointed out the ridiculousness of a live Cougar at games and such. However, it was fun seeing Shasta featured.
P.S. For those that don’t watch, her take wasn’t to get rid of animal mascots… just that they should all be dogs.
It’s ridiculous to have a mascot that lives at the zoo. LSU has a live tiger mascot habitat for mike the tiger outside the stadium.
Having a mascot that lives in a zoo whose presence promotes UH is far more animal sensitive than having a live tiger in an on-campus cage. I know LSU fans practically grovel over Mike, but it’s stupid. He’s still an animal.
Mike eats boudin. He’s the happiest tiger this side of West Bengal.
Remember that UH used to keep Shasta in a small, plain glass enclosure to the left of the Cullen Building. Nothing but a concrete floor. A sad and depressing existence.
Really glad we quit that practice.
Yep…sure remember him being there when I was on campus in the 80’s. I am so glad that everyone that goes to the Houston Zoo has the opportunity to see him, and the best part is that the Coogs get some real nice pub. Recommend everyone donate to the Houston Zoo in the name of Shasta.
The answer was to do what LSU did, not ship it off to the zoo. I have been to the zoo and I have been to LSU, LSU got it right.
Donate the money and make it happen. Will cost about $5 million.
That would be an expensive undertaking. To make a space that wouldn’t be super depressing is not cheap at all. Not to mention the full time help required.
I think it would be boost school spirit a ton. LSU doesn’t just have a concrete slab with glass, they have a zoo like enclosure with staff and the tiger has plenty of room to run around. Doesn’t Baylor have a similar thing on their campus with bears? The difference would be what Shasta has at the zoo but on campus. Plus, it would probably be bigger.
Did Katie Nolan really say that all mascots should be dogs?
This Mike the Tiger’s home by the way:
Well, there’s not much else to brag about in Louisiana.
When I was on campus after the last Shasta died, they held a student vote to build an actual habitat to house future Shastas and maybe multiple cougars, but it got voted down.
Food, real estate taxes, and the French Quarter come to mind.
Yes but in a satirical comment. I think having Shasta at the zoo provides for good advertising, availability of anyone to go see Shasta any day when visiting (and not have to make a special campus visit for it), ensures that Shasta gets the proper care, is in a place prepared for emergencies, and saves the school money. An on campus Cougar would be cool, except that we would need all that infrastructure and staffing for it. Plus we would likely draw some negative publicity for doing it, much like Uncle T gets for having those white tigers downtown.
Agree 100%
Good food, fishing, gambling, and did I mention good food?
Why don’t we put the costumed Shasta in an area sometimes where people could come see him? In all my years as a Coog, I have never met the costumed Shasta, but did see the real Shasta on campus back in the 80’s.
I’ve heard the same arguments for a long time now. UH finds money when it wants to find money. There is an endless supply of cheap labor in the form of students. I don’t know where TU keeps Bevo, but I’m sure it is not at the Austin zoo. I don’t care when crazy idiots get upset, and neither should UH. All I know is Shasta (not the one that does push ups) should be stylin’ at every home game. And that’s not cruel, it’s just cool.
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