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Aurora, a 22-year-old falcon who is a mascot of the United States Air Force Academy, was injured during a prank by West Point cadets when the Air Force played Army in football, according to officials and reports.
The reports raised furious calls for those responsible for Aurora’s injuries to be disciplined, and the United States Military Academy announced it was investigating.
Troy Garnhart, badociate athletic director for strategic communications at the Air Force Academy, confirmed that Aurora was injured and that the falcon was flown back on Saturday night from West Point, N.Y., to the academy near Colorado Springs to be treated by a specialist.
He would not confirm reports that West Point cadets were involved or the nature of the reported prank.
Mr. Garnhart said he did not know Aurora’s condition on Sunday, but The Colorado Springs Gazette, citing Air Force Academy sources, reported that the falcon’s wings were injured during the prank, that those injuries were possibly life-threatening and that Aurora may have to be euthanized.
Mr. Garnhart said he did not know where and how Aurora was discovered to be injured on Saturday.
The Gazette reported on Saturday that Aurora was taken by the cadets from an Army colonel’s home.
Chevelle Thomas, a West Point spokeswoman, said on Sunday that the “U.S. Military Academy sincerely apologizes for an incident involving U.S.M.A. cadets and the Air Force Academy Falcons.”
“One of the birds was injured and the matter is currently under investigation,” Ms. Thomas said. “We are taking this situation very seriously.”
She did not answer questions about the nature of the prank or details on Aurora’s injuries.
Many angrily posted on Facebook and Twitter that if West Point cadets were responsible, they should be expelled, or that West Point should be held accountable legally. Some called the reports a “disgrace” to the military, noting that the West Point cadet honor code states that “a cadet will not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do.”
Ms. Thomas said that West Point had sent an apology to the Air Force Academy and that “this occurrence does not reflect” Army or military academy core values of “dignity and respect.”
Joe Kosakowski, a regional director of the North American Falconers Association, said that Aurora would be considered old, as falcons can have life spans up to about 25 years. Mr. Kosakowski said that falcons’ wings, while flexible, have hollow bones, and that wings could be injured “incidentally if somebody doesn’t know how to handle a bird.”
Mr. Kosakowski said he did not think wing injuries would necessarily be life-threatening. He said falcons routinely sustain wing injuries, and many can be treated and live. He said that he was familiar with the Air Force Academy’s falcon program and that it should have the staff to treat Aurora.
“There’s a lot of stuff you can do depending on how much money you want to spend,” Mr. Kosakowski said. “This bird, depending on the type of fracture or the type of break, if it was a wing injury, most likely, it won’t die. But whether or not it will be able to be flown again, depends on the type of injury and what’s available to them.”
The United States Military Academy has a long history of pranks and football, particularly in the days leading up to the football game between the Army and the Navy. Mascots have famously been targets of those pranks.
In 1991, after midshipmen raided a West Point veterinary clinic and took four Army mules and were chased by helicopters, the two academies signed a pact exempting mascots from their pranks.
Then in 2002, one of the Naval Academy’s goats was stolen, apparently by West Point cadets.
Falcons were chosen as the Air Force Academy’s mascot in 1955, and Aurora is one of a number of falcons that are mascots of the academy. Mr. Garnhart could not immediately say how many the academy has. He said he was unaware of a time when a falcon had been taken before.
Mr. Garnhart said that Aurora, a species of falcon called a gyrfalcon, attends “most” football games, but does not perform at them. Aurora’s all-white coloring is rare, occurring in only 1 percent of gyrfalcons, according to a 2011 news release from the Air Force Academy, which indicated that Aurora is temperamental.
Mr. Kosakowski said Gyrfalcons can weigh between 50 and 60 ounces, and they are the largest falcon in North America. He said Gyrfalcons are “very expensive birds,” but they are regularly bred in the United States.
Army beat the Air Force 17 to 14 on Saturday.
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