Ralphie V too big, too fast for football job
The star attraction of the University of Colorado’s American football team is huge, dangerously strong and too fast for players to keep up with.
After 12 seasons as the mascot of the Buffaloes, Ralphie V, half a tonne of prime bison, is being put out to pasture for the safety of her handlers.
In one of the more esoteric traditions in American university sport for the past 53 years a live bison has led the home team out at Folsom Field, the university’s spectacular outdoor stadium in Boulder, by the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
Yet for the past two games there was no mascot because Ralphie V had begun to charge on to the pitch too quickly and unpredictably.
When she started in the role she was only one year old, weighed about 200kg and was notably nippier than her predecessor Ralphie IV, who tended to lumber around the turf.
Previous Ralphies have tended to slow with age. Not this one. She weighs 500kg and was hurtling out of her pen more quickly than ever, according to those who worked with her, hunching down and exploding on to the field when she heard the announcer on the public address system shout: ‘‘Here comes Ralphie!’’
‘‘Her personality is fun and energetic,’’ John Graves, the manager of the Ralphie programme at the university, and her trainer, said.
‘‘She really loves to run on game day.’’
Ralphie V was always accompanied by 16 student ‘‘Ralphie Handlers’’, volunteer athletes who train and practise five days a week to maintain the fitness needed. Five would sprint around the field with her while the others fanned out to keep her path clear.
Recently, though, the task has become too difficult. ‘‘Ralphie V has been so excited to run that she was actually running too fast, which created safety concerns for her and her handlers,’’ the university said. ‘‘She also wasn’t consistently responding to cues from handlers.’’
Ralphie V will attend her final game on Saturday but will remain in her pen. She will then retire to a ranch whose location is being kept secret so that Buffaloes supporters do not harass her and rival teams’ fans do not try to kidnap her.
The move has been welcomed by animal welfare activists. ‘‘Live animals don’t belong at sporting events, unlike star athletes who are making the choice to be there,’’ Ashley Byrne, an associate director with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said. ‘‘Animal mascots don’t get to choose anything about the way they live.’’
Graves, however, is already looking for a Ralphie VI.
– The Times