Do any sports teams have living, real animals as team “pets” or “mascots” or “ambassadors” or what have you?

The logo of the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL is a galloping white stallion on a red field.

Any time the Stampeders score a touchdown in a home game, a pretty cowgirl rides a white stallion around the field, controlling the horse with one hand while waving a large flagpole with the stampeders logo on it.

(And now that I’ve explained the touchdown customs of the Stampeders, this Riders fan feels a bit dirty. Sometimes, fighting ignorance ain’t pretty.)

No, just guys in costume.

I strongly suspected so. Not trying to be a jerk, but the OP did specify “actual animals, not people in animal suits.”

Yeah, I misread it. Sorry.

The only other one besides Ralphie I could find is War Eagle from Auburn University although they say it (an eagle) is not actually a mascot.

A friend and I were talking about narwhals recently, and I remarked that if there isn’t a baseball team called the Narwhals, there should be. What a perfect mascot - it has a built in bat!

Difficult to keep one around for home games, though.

Yeah, Auburn’s actual mascot is a Tiger (and it’s usually a student in a mascot costume). “War Eagle” is a slogan/chant which the fans and the teams use, and while they have an eagle at the games, due to this, it’s not actually their mascot.

The Fordyce Redbugs. Fordyce, Arkansas(boyhood home of Bear Bryant)

I dare say there are quite a few Redbugs in the area.

Are red bugs chiggers? Noooo thanks!

Can’t imagine anyone using them as a mascot. Would be akin to having lice as a mascot.

Yes, same. It’s a matter of age I think.

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has the Mule Corps. Currently, there are three: Ranger III, Stryker, and Paladin.

The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis has a goat, nearly always named Bill.

The U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs has a falcon, The current one is named Nova.

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy at New London used to keep a bear, but discontinued the practice in the 1980s.

Probably plenty of banana slugs around Santa Cruz, too.

When the Miami Dolphins first started playing in the NFL, in 1966, they had an actual dolphin, named Flipper (of course), which was present in a large tank of water in the Orange Bowl during games, and her trainers had her jump in the air each time the Dolphins scored a touchdown.

They discontinued using Flipper after the 1968 season, due to cost.

Mentioned by @John_DiFool in post 20, but he didn’t include a picture, so there’s that.

facepalm And here I thought I’d read the entire thread.

Dubs the Washington State Huskies mascot. Current mascot is Dubs II, but there have been many different names since 1922.

A tiny school nearish to me Gurdon, Arkansas(home of the famous Gurdon light) is the Go-Devils.

I definitely don’t wanna see their mascot. Ever :smiling_face_with_horns:

The village nearest me had Roadrunners as a mascot. They never kept one as a live mascot. That I knew of.

Do they have an actual live go-devil mascot? :wink:

It is an extremely woo-ish place. They might actually have one hidden in a dungeon somewhere.

The Gurdon light is uber spooky. It’s a favorite teen destination.

I’ve just now, after all these years realized they probably named their highscool mascot Go-Devils because of the “light”.

Similarly, the University of Connecticut has Jonathan the Husky as its mascot.