What Should Decatur’s Official City Animal Be?
Decatur Metro | March 23, 2011During Monday’s Decatur City Commission meeting, Asst. Director of Community & Economic Development Linda Harris presented the Decatur Tourism Bureau’s new logo to the commission to get clearance for use of the city’s logo. It was of course approved.
In the course of the short presentation, Ms. Harris also mentioned that the Tourism Bureau’s logo included “the city’s flower, the Day Lily”.
There seemed to be a general sense of surprise in the room that the city had an “official flower”, and this led Commissioner Fred Boykin to ask, “Does Decatur have an official animal?” To which Ms. Harris replied, “No, Decatur doesn’t have a city animal”.
Well, why not?! We have lots of great animals here! cats, rats, Golden Doodles, coyotes, squirrels. Plenty of options to choose from!
So let’s satisfy Commissioner Boykin’s inquiry and decide what the city’s official animal be!
Latest from Decaturish
Squirrel would be the obvious choice, but I’d have to go with the Southern Coyote.
Hootie!!!
Do zombies count?
Is there such a thing as a four-legged zombie?
4 legs good, 2 legs bad.
Do zombies count?
Only if their fingers haven’t fallen off!!!
1. Non-pedigree dog rescued from PAWS
2. Non-pedigree cat rescued from PAWS
3. Squirrel
4. Chipmunk
5. Coyote–How would we get a good photo for the city website?:)
the common housecat
I agree with a common house cat!
Red-Tailed Hawk
I was driving on South Columbia last Saturday and a Red Tail Hawk carrying a Squirrel flew right in front of my windshield. The ultimate two for one…..Quite awesome and a great graffic image!
Oops again. Graphic, not graffic. I should really start proof reading my posts.
A graphic image seen while driving in traffic could be called “graffic”.
The Subaru.
A Bulldog of course!
Roof rats rule.
skateboarding teenager with Emo hair…
The DeCanine! SO many dog owners in this little city.
I really like DeCanine!
Which also takes in BULLDOG!
Actually, since our lone H.S. and middle school’s mascot are the bulldogs, I don’t see how we could do otherwise. Why, Karass, is it so bad to ask kid’s opinions? I don’t understand the comment. Not criticizing it. Just hoping to understand.
I was gonna suggest coyote, but that might not be appreciated by folks who think the critters have killed their cats.
Actually we do have other middle and high schools in this city. STM, Friends, Academe of the Oaks come to mind. They are wonderful institutions and good Decatur citizens.
Theoretically students should have input. But my experience at Clairemont, with sports teams, and elsewhere is that Decatur kids always want to be the “Bulldogs”. It’s the combined influence of the UGA and DHS Bulldogs. Forget alliteration, forget hometown icons, forget originality, they will pick “Bulldogs”. Wait and see at the new Fifth Avenue. If you ask the kids, their nickname won’t be the Fifth Avenue Flamingos, Fifth Avenue Foxes, Fifth Avenue Firebrands, Fifth Avenue Farm to Tablers, or Fifth Avenue Flood Plainers, it will be the Fifth Avenue Bulldogs.
OMG- Fifth Avenue Farm-to-Tablers. Love it!
What about the technicolor Flamingos as seen on the street!
A hawk!
I thought it was already Pete the Cat?
Oh no.
I think the rare Token Republican
We truly are things of beauty and grace, intelligence and wile.
Can we love you and hug you and squeeze you and feed you and call you “George”? If not, then you don’t get to be our official animal…
Yes. Yes you can.
Endangered in these parts!
In spite of all odds, the Decatur Republican, much like the controversial gray wolf of the western states, has repopulated at a faster rate than almost any other endangered species in the city of Decatur…….
There’s hope yet.
Watch out. Sarah Palin may come to shoot them from aeroplanes
I’ve heard my neighbor say , “you can’t spell Decatur without C-A-T”
I vote for Pete the Cat .
I would go for Pete the Cat as well. Also, what about the free range chicken?
Ok, for us newbies, who is Pete the Cat? Thanks.
this might help….http://www.petethecat.com/
What says Decatur more than the wily Coyote?
I do think Pete the Cat is pretty well enshrined as Decatur personified. If it has to be a REAL animal, seem seem to have a lot of mockingbirds…
The Chicken!
Yes!!!!
Yes, the chicken. I believe that’s CHECLC’s mascot?
Actually, it’s the eagle I believe, but eagles are not as cute on tees as the stylized chicken!
Barred Owl, like the ones that make their rounds about town.
the bald snark
The honey badger.
(youtube it)
“He don’t care….!!!”
I guess our motto could be “We just chase things and eat them.”
Be the Honey Badger!!!! lolololol
LOVE the Honey Badger!
Honey Badger don’t give a sh*t. It just mascots whatever it wants.
Honey Badger; chases other mascots up into trees . . . and eats them.
“Ewww, that’s nasty, but the honey badger don’t care…”
A couple of honey badgers could solve that coyote problem.
Do you think DM saves these posts to distract us when we become too contentious on other posts? Or does he simply have great comic timing?
Heh! Prolly both…
Even tho I’m a big Pete the Cat fan, I’m kinda digging the Hootie idea…
How about Squirrel-headed Bastard?
Ha! I merely invoked his name and I got sent to “awaiting moderation!” Now, that’s clout.
Imagine my predicament. Always moderated, despite the benign and pleasant nature of comments.
anything but a cat…
Tweety Was Right: Cats Are a Bird’s No. 1 Enemy
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/science/21birds.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general
HA! Great Article! Best line in the whote story:
“I hope we can now stop minimizing and trivializing the impacts that outdoor cats have on the environment and start addressing the serious problem of cat predation,”
Guess those Coyotes aren’t so bad after all…
Please do not ask any CSD children. I guarantee you they will say “bulldog”. It gets old.
So Karass, You went to Tech?
Owl
OWL!!
Kinkajou
Pit Bull.
Don’t you mean *Staffy*, because that will fool everyone into thinking they are not Pits – right?
Heh heh. I thought “Scrappy, the Rescue Pit” would have an endearing quality to it.
A very interesting topic. I’ve seen several varieties of beautiful woodpeckers in Glenlake Park, including one that I described to my wife as the “biggest dang’ woodpecker I’ve ever seen!” (she continued to do the crossword puzzle). I swear there’s a huge turtle in the Glenlake creek, maybe a foot wide but who would want a mean ol’ turtle as a city symbol? I also like the wrens. The wrens around my feeders and porches will come very close and act as if they are checking me out. Owls may be my favorite. Even hateful old conservatives will stop and smile when they hear the owls of Glenlake call to each other. What about the Canadian geese in the cemetery? What a sight to see them fly in and out of town! I also like the sandhill cranes migrating over Decatur but they’re so hard to see.
Final thought: I think the city animal should be a bird and we should have a festival for it.
Definitely a festival.
Hootie & a hootenanny! :0)
So then you are proposing we PUT A BIRD ON IT?
Snipe.
Just open up a paper bag and see them hop in ….
Gotta be a yellow dog.
Possum. Pogo (my favorite)
Pogo is the official state possum for all of Georgia.
http://www.sos.ga.gov/archives/state_symbols/state_possum.html
You can’t make this stuff up.
That’s awesome! My dad will love this.
A donkey. DTR would love it.
Don’t be a smart a$$.
Get it? Smart a$$? Oh, never mind.
Boy, you fellas sure are FOXy.
Unicorn
Don’t forget that someone is going to have to dress up as one for every festival. Perhaps a couple a Bulldog and Pete the Cat. Whose to say a mascot can’t be a couple reflective of our coolness, tolerance and generally hip vibe.
Are you volunteering?
Oh to be Pete the Cat for a day!
That’s going to attract the Furries, you know.
“Furries?” Why, what are those? Let me just Google that andOH MY DEAR LORD IN HEAVEN MAH EYES! MAH EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYES!!!!!
Pete the Cat!!!!!!!
A firefly. Haven’t seen one yet this year, have you?
That was off hand but I’m liking it. Decatur: a tiny ember of civility and cooperation in an otherwise dark abyss.
Nope. Doesn’t it have to get a bit more humid first? We’ll be the first to know. Our budding entomologist is always capturing (and releasing) them.
Let’s not be alarmist. Still waaaaay too early. They don’t usually start showing up til May or June.
An orb…..we have lots of ghosts here in Decatur!
The frozen yogurt culture.
When I think of Pete the Cat, I automatically think of Decatur.
An owl riding a recumbent bike (with a helmet of course) chasing a free range chicken
Chipmunk. Or mosquito.