Are Live Animal Mascots a Curse for the NCAA? PETA Calls for Ban

For Immediate Release:
January 17, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Monday’s college football championship game will wrap up a chaotic season in which a tiger and a bull were carted around as live mascots—and might the teams have cursed themselves in the process? Notre Dame and Ohio State kept their focus on the field rather than on creating a circus on the sidelines, and their efforts—and maybe a bit of goodkarma—helped drive them into the championships. So today, PETA sent a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker, urging him to blow the whistle on live animals at all college sports games.

PETA notes that while both teams headed to Monday’s championship wow crowds with willing human mascots, less successful teams like Louisiana State University and the University of Texas at Austin are still dragging unwilling animals into stadiums full of screaming fans.

“Subjecting animals to the noise and chaos of sporting events is bad for the animals, dangerous for crowds, and apparently unlucky for the teams, too,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the NCAA to throw a flag on these senseless stunts by banning the use of live animals as mascots.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out thatEvery Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Baker follows.

Charlie Baker
President, NCAA

January 17, 2025

Dear Mr. Baker,

I’m writing from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to urge you to ban the use of live animals at college games. As the season concludes with a championship between two teams that use ethical costumed mascots rather than animals, it’s time for the NCAA to blow the whistle on the unchecked—and unlucky—exploitation of live animal mascots.

Without your guidance on this crucial issue, the 2024/2025 season has devolved into a chaotic circus that has included: a tiger forced to appear at an LSU game despite protests from the school’s own veterinarians and the student body government; a longhorn steer previously banned for safety concerns admitted back to the sidelines at the Cotton Bowl Classic; and a bearcat named by Binghamton University as a new mascot despite his status on the red list of threatened species.

But the teams that opted to ruthlessly cart animals around to games seem to have cursed themselves into a losing season. Notre Dame and Ohio State are headed to the championship on Monday, and neither team exploits a live animal mascot. In fact, Notre Dame called “time-out” on their traditional mascot, a live Irish Terrier, for their lucky Leprechaun back in the sixties, proving that traditions can evolve to exclude cruelty without any school spirit being lost. Both champion teams kept their focus on the field rather than on creating a circus on the sidelines. Their efforts—and maybe a bit of goodkarma—paid off!

We’ve come a long way since Alabama kept a live elephant mascot on campus and UCLA brought live bears to its games. But all animals are unique and interesting individuals with a right not to be exploited. As more and more people realize this, students and sports fans alike are increasingly opposed to using live animals as “spectacles” at sporting events.

It’s time for you to tackle the entrenched exploitation of animals used as mascots. Please consider the fear and stress they experience at games and enact a policy to protect them.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President