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No War Eagle? Auburn’s live mascot won’t take flight before games in 2020
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Auburn has a tradition before every home game in which its live eagle mascot takes flight in Jordan-Hare Stadium and lands (or attempts to) on its trainer.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic going on, the SEC has put in place a policy of not having any live animals on the field this fall. That applies to Uga at Georgia, Reveille at Texas A&M and others around the conference.
On Thursday, the Auburn eagle trainer, Andrew Hopkins, revealed that the eagle will not fly this year to comply with the policy:
To comply with the SEC policy of no live animals on the field, the eagle flight will not occur in Jordan-Hare Stadium on gamedays during the 2020 season. pic.twitter.com/ddNzMOJkan
— Andrew Hopkins (@AUeagleTrainer) September 17, 2020
War Eagle VIII has been with the Auburn program since Nov. 23 of last year. War Eagle VIII’s name is Aurea, and she replaced Nova, who was War Eagle VII.
Aurea was found near Selma, Alabama, and according to her profile, weighs in at 7.7 pounds with a 6.5-foot wingspan.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
