During the Independence Bowl the other day, the Air Force’s mascot, a live falcon named Ace, flew away. Before the Bowl, the falcon was released, and was supposed to circle the stadium in downtown Shreveport and come back. He was released, and circled the stadium, but did not come back. Instead, he flew away.
He was recovered later, taken down by a tracking device and some sort of recovery lasso. Apparently, the Air Force’s strategy to not let this happen again is to keep him hungry enough so that he knows to come back if he wants to get fed.
While I understand that a falcon does not belong in Shreveport, where it could not survive because of its lack of hunting skills caused by human contact and hand-fed dinner routines, it’s still a little sad. The bird just wanted to be free.
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