Military mascot
Many Australian Imperial Force battalions in World War I brought all sorts of animals along with them, including dogs, kangaroos, koalas and even a Tasmanian devil.
An advertisement in the Ballarat Courier in March 1916 reads, There are also examples of call outs for wallabies or kangaroos to be sent to training camps as mascots, and others were provided to battalions as gifts.
A 3.4 metres (11 ft) First Nations pewter figurine originally attached to a factory in Picton, Ontario, was used as the mascot for the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment.
Corporal Jackie (Pretoria, 1913 - May 23, 1921) was a female baboon owned by Albert Marr accepted as mascot of the 3rd (Transvaal & Rhodesian) South African Regiment.
Regiments of the British Army have long been prone to adopt members of the animal world as their mascots: dogs, goats and ponies are just a few that have graced ceremonial parades.
When the custom of having regimental mascots first started is not clear; the earliest record is that of a goat belonging to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the 1775 American War of Independence.
Some mascots in the British Army are indicative of the recruiting area of a regiment, such as the Derbyshire Ram, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Irish Wolfhounds and Welsh Goats.
By getting an official status, the mascot receives a regimental number, assumes a proper rank with prospects of promotion and gets its fair share of Army rations.
Third, the committee will consider whether the mascot is "appropriate", can take an active part in army life, including ceremonial occasions, and have a symbolic and historic connection with the regiment.
His predecessor, named Ramillies, was presented to the Regiment by their Colonel-in-Chief, Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 1987 and assumed his duties in 1989.
On the 50th Anniversary of the Parachute Regiment in July 1992, Dodger was renamed "Falkland", as tradition only allows the use of a battle honour as a name ten years after the event.
Cruachan II was presented to the regiment by Mrs. Roger G. Hyde on 17 August 1952 at Princes Street Station in Edinburgh when the 1st Battalion returned to the United Kingdom from service in Hong Kong and Korea.
[25] On ceremonial occasions, Cruachan is dressed in a green tartan saddlecloth which is bordered with yellow and embroidered on both sides with the Royal Regiment of Scotland badge and cipher in gold and silver thread.
The mascots of the Irish Guards from 1902 to present are Brian Boru (1902–1910), Leitrim Boy (1910–1917), Doran (1917–1924), Cruachan (1924–1929), Pat (1951–1953), Shaun (1960–1967), Fionn (1967–1976), Cormac (1976–1985), Connor (1985–1992), Malachy (1992–1994), Cuchulain (1995–2000), Aengus (2000–2003), Donnchadh (2003–2005), Fergal (2006–2007), Conmael (2009–2012), Domhnall (2013–2019) and Turlough Mor (Seamus) (2020–date).
The predecessor mascot, Lance Corporal William Windsor, a Kashmir goat from the royal herd at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, was presented to the Regiment by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001.
As he left Dale Barracks, Chester for the last time, hundreds of soldiers from the Battalion lined the route from his pen to the trailer to say farewell and thank you for his many years of good service.
Billy gets a two-a-day cigarette ration (he eats them, as traditionally, the tobacco is thought to be good for the goat) and Guinness to drink when he is older "to keep the iron up".
Replacements for the goat mascot are traditionally selected from the royal herd kept at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire and are always named Taffy plus a Roman numeral to show succession.
Queen Elizabeth II sent her private condolences following Shenkin's death and Buckingham Palace gave permission for the regiment to pick out a successor.
During his long service, Shenkin II met the Queen, visited Prince Charles' Gloucestershire home, Highgrove, and had been to 10 Downing Street where he was tethered in the rear garden.
However, there was a temporary departure from tradition in 1924 when the successor ram, Derby XIV, was presented to the Regiment instead by His Highness Sir Umeo Singh Bahador GCB GLSI GCIE The Mohorac of Kotah.
When on parade, Private Derby wears a coat of scarlet with Lincoln green and gold facings, the whole emblazoned with the Regiment's main Battle Honours.
A pair of silver protectors are fitted on the tips of his horns to protect the clothing of persons near him such as his handlers and visitors, of which he receives a great number each time he appears in public.
They escort Private Derby when he is on parade by standing, one on each side of the sheep and leading or controlling him with two white ornamental ropes that are attached to a leather collar.
At a military review in Aldershot, the then mascot, Bobby II, chose to lay down as he was being led past King George V and proceeded to nibble the grass, thus halting the parade.
A few days later, when the regiment encamped at Assiut awaiting orders for the final phase of their march, a very thin and bedraggled dog staggered into their camp and collapsed.
Such was the tradition, interest and good feeling of the people of Burton towards this most popular mascot that in September 1960 Watchman II was presented to the Battalion by the town at a civic parade.
Seaman Jenna, an orphaned Shiba Inu, was the canine mascot of the USS Vandegrift (FFG-48) while the ship was forward deployed to the Seventh Fleet between 1998 and 2003.
The USS Lake Erie (CG-70) also had an American Pygmy named Master Chief Charlie serve as an unofficial mascot from 2012 to 2015, when the ship was stopped for violating California's animal transportation regulations while entering San Diego, leading to the ship's captain being removed from his command post and Carrier Strike Group 11 officially prohibiting animal mascots.
A Jack Russell Terrier born in 2019, Patron became famous following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine after the State Emergency Service video of him examining debris and explosives went viral.
