The organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sent a letter to Mississippi State asking for the university to retire Jak, the bulldog that serves as a mascot. This letter was written in response to Auburn running back JaTarvious “Boobee” Whitlow colliding with Jak after scoring a touchdown.
Whitlow knocked the mascot over, causing the dog to be taken away from the sidelines for a period of time. Jak did ultimately return to the field while a message was sent out on the mascot’s official Twitter account saying that he was unharmed.
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“Concerned citizens are contacting us about an incident in which a football player apparently collided with Jak, Mississippi State’s live bulldog mascot, during the September 28 game against Auburn University,” Marta Holmberg, the Senior Director of PETA, wrote in the letter.
Poor Bully 😳 The Mississippi State Bulldogs’ canine mascot @HailStateMascot took a hit on the sidelines of yesterday’s game. (Thankfully the pup is doing okay and was able to return to the game!) Watch–> pic.twitter.com/Na0ND58z8y
— Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) September 29, 2019
“In light of this close call — which could easily have left Jak severely injured or even dead — as well as the cruelty inherent in using living beings as ‘mascots,’ I urge you to retire Jak and pledge not to use live animals in the future,” the letter continued.
“Using vulnerable animals as mascots is a recipe for disaster. For example, at this year’s Sugar Bowl, Bevo, the longhorn steer used by the University of Texas, apparently broke out of an enclosure and charged the University of Georgia’s bulldog mascot, Uga, nearly trampling him.”
Mississippi State University did reveal on Monday that Jak did not come out of the game entirely unscathed. The mascot will be spending the bye week recovering from a bruise on his chin and right hind leg. However, he is expected to be back on the sidelines during the next game.
Having a live animal mascot in college football is not limited to Mississippi State. There have been so many schools that follow this practice that Fox Sports even ranked the top-25 examples back in 2016. Among these animal mascots were a Russian boar, a Rambouillet sheep, a goat, an owl and an Alaskan Malamute.
These are only a few examples, and there are some teams that have live animals on the sidelines for other reasons. The Boise State Broncos actually have a trained black lab that runs onto the field after every kickoff to pick up the kicking tee that holds the football.
