Strong River Bend High Gets Live Mascot
The SRB High faithful are excited about the upcoming football season, and now they have a reason to get even more excited. SRB is getting a live wolf mascot! They’ll be the only school in The Valley with a live mascot.
Principal Ryan Hollins said, “We’ve been wanting to get a live mascot for a while, and we finally found the one. We can’t wait to introduce him to the SRB fans. We’re very excited about what the wolf will add to our Friday night atmosphere.” School officials had been talking with multiple wolf sanctuaries, and they finally found “the one” at the South Central Alaska Wolf Sanctuary.
A sanctuary spokesperson said, “This is the first time we’ve adopted out a wolf to be a live mascot, and we’re thrilled to do it. We hope to do this more in the future.” SRB chose this particular wolf for multiple reasons. He has a laid back demeanor, and he’s very good with people. But, the main reason is the wolf has multiple natural maroon markings on his fur. The sanctuary spokesperson said, “This is only the 3rd wolf ever observed to have maroon markings, so it’s extremely rare.”
Principal Hollins said, “We came across multiple wolves we liked, but the maroon markings on this one did it for us. We immediately thought that this is “the one.” We’ll introduce him to the fans at Meet the Wolves Night before the season kicks off.”
Coach Jake Birdsong is going to have the responsibility of taking care of the wolf. The South Central Alaska Wolf Sanctuary agreed to pay $1,000 per year for 4 years for the care of the wolf. Also, Coach Birdsong will receive a $1,500 annual coaching supplement for the added responsibility. Birdsong said, “I’ve been taking care of him for 4 days now, and we hit it off immediately. I am looking forward to taking care of him. Right now, I just have to teach him to stop howling at 4 am. He’s been waking me and the neighbors up pretty early, but we’ll get that fixed.”
The SRB fans can’t wait to meet the wolf. It’s going to be interesting to see if other schools in The Valley try to copy SRB and get their own live mascot.