This is basically to get a feel for whether they want a live mascot at their games in ‘27 when they open their on-campus stadium.
The bull will be furnished by Professional Bull Riding (PBR).
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Awesome. Need more live mascots
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I wonder if UH will ever let Shasta and or Louie on to the field during football games like Bevo & Reveille. I’d presume it’d be too hazardous but it’s one more big reason to uplift the attendance and school spirit.
Also, haven’t UH already brought Shasta to games before? Idk I’m new gen and current student.
PETA would have a cow. But I like the thought, let’s make it happen
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I am not a PETA member and I think live mascots at games is a ridiculous idea.
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Well if that bull gets on to her they’ll have some high spirited calves
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No. Will never happen again. Too much of a liability for the university. That was the decision in about 1989, but students can visit Shasta and Louie at the zoo either for free or at a discount.
Yeah, we used to roll a drugged-up “live” cougar in a cage onto the sideline at football games.
It didn’t bring the crowds.
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He was in a leash
I’m the old days, yeah, but I walked by the cage on the sidelines in the Astrodome in the late 80s.
Tillman was in favor of building a habit in campus like LSU has for Mike the tiger
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It was a really cool deal back in the day, but it probably wasn’t great for the big cat.
The first time I saw them walking her across campus for exercise, I was amazed that anyone figured out how to get a cat to walk on a leash. 
Great! Need a good crew to handle him, like with Bevo.
Looking at Google maps the cougar habitat at the zoo is about 3500 sq ft. Could easily find a spot on campus for one if they want to do it. Mike the tiger has a little more than 10k sqft. They can build one larger than that in cougar woods.
Chatgpt says you need at least 2k sqft, zoos are generally 5-10k sqft. So a 10k sqft enclosure with a pond and climbing features would cost between 350k-850k to build. Definitely doable based on those numbers.
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I don’t think the issue is building it so much as it is the fact that we’d have to employ caretakers and also actually feed and care for the animal. The Zoo is much better equipped to handle that.
I’d rather have a canopy over TDECU than a live cougar.
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Great idea. What could go wrong…
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That is a very cool partnership for USF. A lot of the PBR bulls are as gentle as a lap dog and accustomed to the crowds.
Shasta was on a leash and was on the sidelines for Cougar games.
The Cougar Guard, a subset of APO Fraternity, attended to Shasta, even took her to away games. Went on for decades.
Shasta was declawed, but not defanged.
