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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Mustang mascots flown in


By Stephen Tsai
HawaiiWarriorBeat.com Editor

For the Southern Methodist football team, support can be — absolutely and positively — delivered overnight.

Thanks to a booster, two of the Mustangs' mascots — 3-year-old mustangs — made the trip to paradise for tomorrow's Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

The mustangs and their six-person party yesterday arrived on a FedEx cargo flight from Dallas.

The mustangs "are now on vacation in Hawai'i," said Madeleine Pickens, who footed the $35,000 bill to pay for the mascots' travel and care.

Actually, the mustangs will work during the nationally televised game against Nevada.

After being named SMU's head coach in 2008, June Jones sought real mustangs as mascots. Jones was put in contact with Pickens, who is trying to create a sanctuary for mustangs in Nevada.

Pickens said government officials have captured 33,000 mustangs, keeping them in holding pens. She believes the mustangs, which are on the protected list, should be free to graze on Bureau of Land Management ranges, which are occupied mostly by cattle.

Meanwhile, Pickens donated two mustangs to SMU. The school trained the mustangs.

"Madeleine is a wonderful person, and she is doing a lot for the mustangs," Jones said.

Pickens' husband is T. Boone Pickens, who has donated more than $400 million to Oklahoma State.