Report: Air Force's Falcon Mascot Hurt in Prank Gone Awry, May Need To Be Euthanized
Aurora is the name of the Air Force Academy’s live falcon mascot and it has been the official mascot of the service academy since 1996.
But not only could Aurora’s time as a mascot be coming to an end, so could her life.
That’s the result of a prank gone awry involving Army ahead of the game between the two service academies on Saturday.
Aurora was taken from a colonel’s home by West Point cadets as part of the Air Force-Army week prank. While being kept by the Army cadets, both of the bird’s wings were injured, according to The Colorado Springs Gazette.
Given the bird’s advanced age, Aurora may have to be euthanized according to an Air Force official. Aurora is 22 years old and the lifespan for falcons is 16-20 years in the wild, and 25 years in captivity.
“USAFA mascot Aurora was injured over the weekend and is being transported back to Colorado,” academy spokesman Lt. Col Tracy Bunko said. “We have specialists at the academy who have the best training and facilities for her care. She is part of our academy family and we are all hoping for her full and speedy recovery.”
Army and Navy have a long tradition of stealing each other’s mascots ahead of their matchups, but the Air Force’s falcon wasn’t usually involved in the service academy pranks.
This is the first time that one of the academies was ever able to steal the falcon, which has been used as a live mascot since 1959.
Aurora, in particular, is known for her temper which means not only is she hard to capture, but she was also rarely used as a flying mascot.
“She has 2-inch talons,” an Air Force official said. “That’s going to take more than a tetanus shot to fix.”
As for the actual football game, Army defeated Air Force 17-14 and will win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy this year, no matter the outcome of next month’s Army-Navy game.
After the game there was some pushing and shoving between the teams, but there’s no word on if the situation with Aurora played a factor into that.
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Air Force usually brings two bird mascots to games, but only had one for the Army game with Aurora not available.
The birds have an assigned cadet guardian when they travel to and from games, in addition to being guarded at the Air Force Academy.
Even with that, the falcon has gotten away at times, but never because of another service academy stealing it. During a game last season, the bird flew away but was eventually recaptured in the stadium parking lot.
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