UH mourns cougar Shasta VI, college mascot for 10 years
Shasta VI, the University of Houston’s cougar mascot for the past 10 years, was euthanized at the Houston Zoo on Thursday after dealing with a progressive spinal disease and declining kidney function.
“We are committed to ensuring the animals in our care experience the highest quality of life. That includes their day-to-day care as well as end-of-life decisions,” the Houston Zoo’s vice president of animal programs Kevin Hodge stated on the zoo’s website.
“With world-class animal keepers, incredible veterinarians, and a complete veterinary clinic, our animals receive the best possible care right up to their last days.”
Shasta and two other cougar cubs were rescued and brought to the Houston Zoo from Washington state in 2011 at just 5 weeks old when their mother was illegally killed by a hunter. In 2012, the University of Houston Alumni Association and the Houston Zoo introduced Shasta VI as the athletic department’s new live cougar mascot.
Shasta VI lived at the Houston Zoo but took part in school traditions like guarding the class rings each semester before graduation day.
“With the help of the Houston Zoo, it was our honor at the UH Alumni Association to bring Shasta VI to the UH family,” UH’s associate vice president for alumni relations Mike Pede said in a statement released by the school. “Shasta’s service and symbolism of pride and school spirit will live on with all who went to see him, had their rings guarded by him or saw his handlers adorn his habitat with spirited notes of support. Rest
easy good friend.”
Pede said it’s too early to to predict if there will be a Shasta VII, but the school is open to the idea through its partners at the Houston Zoo.
The university first had a live cougar, which it named Shasta, as its mascot in 1947.
The next four iterations of Shasta all lived in a cougar enclosure on campus — dubbed Shasta’s Den — until 1989 when Shasta V died and the school opted to not carry on the tradition.
Students instead costumed themselves as Shasta, until the cougar’s return decades later.
The latest Shasta for months suffered from the spinal disease, zoo officials said. During treatment, he also was found to have declining kidney function, which is common in older felines. Male cougars typically have a median lifespan of 13 years, according to the San Diego Zoo.
Shasta leaves behind his friend Haley, a female cougar whom he lived alongside. She serves as a UH ambassador.