PRINTCoMo celebrities
Animals we all know and love
Missourian File Photo, Courtesy of Ruth Acuff
May 6, 2009 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Sparky
This 10-year-old bulldog has an ice cream parlor and decoy to stand in for him when he can’t be there for his adoring public. But according to Scott Southwick, owner of both Sparky the dog and Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream on Ninth Street, Sparky was well-known before the ice cream parlor opened simply because he was a bulldog. “It’s a weird thing, but everyone loves bulldogs,” Southwick says. “They are the lovable clowns of the dog world.”
At his age, Sparky can’t hang outside the store for more than 30 minutes at a time except for when the weather is in the 60s. Although he likes relaxing during the winter offseason, he admits to missing his fans. Sparky enjoys winning a game of tug-of-war and will go bonkers for a basketball.
Truman the Tiger
Probably the most recognizable animal in mid-Mo., Truman the Tiger appears all over Columbia. MU chose the tiger as its mascot in 1890, but it wasn’t until 1984 that he was named Truman after former President Harry S. Truman, who hails from Independence. In 1986, the cat image and costume got a makeover, and the Truman we know today was born. The 22-year-old cat enjoys grilling Jayhawk drumsticks after big games. He’s been proposed to by a fan and was named Mascot of the Year in 2004 during a National Cheerleading Association competition. Although Truman doesn’t have a favorite sport, his most memorable victory is the Mizzou-Kansas football game in 2007.
- Columbia's menagerie
- Fenced in
- Animal house
- A pet by any other name
- Rabbit tricks
- Doggy OCD
- Confessions of a Paranoid Cat Owner
- 5 things not to feed your pets
- Vox's cutest pet winners
- What a pet wants
- Family resemblance
- The real cost of pets
- Mythbusters
- Working like a dog
- Small deaths kill me
- Scratches, Tiger and Toby
- Love knows no lease
- The pet from hell
- The parakeet Cold War
- Of pug and Pam
- Mourning Jack
- All aboard
- Confessions of a Paranoid Cat Owner
- Vet school: a closer look
- Menu: Pets unleashed!
Uno the Westminster champion
Columbia resident Eddie Dziuk is one of four former co-owners of the first beagle ever to win Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Uno took the 2008 title in perfect beagle style — howling while the crowd chanted his name. The tricolor pooch managed to best two poodles, a Weimaraner, an Akita, an Australian shepherd and a Sealyham terrier. In a USA Today article, Judge J. Donald Jones described Uno as a perfect 10, saying “He does cuteness well.” After his yearlong reign ended in February, Uno settled down on the ranch of now sole owner Caroline Dowell outside of Austin, Texas. He will hopefully start a family.
The infamous biting monkey
Columbia has had more than its fair share of monkey madness. In May 1943, a monkey escaped from MU’s School of Medicine and was never caught.
Then, in September 2007, a monkey in Columbia bit two children, an 11-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, at Stephens Lake Park during the Paws at the Park Dog Show. The Columbia/Boone County Health Department had a lead on a woman in Springfield who might have owned the monkey, but she claimed it had never bitten anyone. Nonetheless, Columbia’s “Monkey on the Lam” later made it into a segment on The Colbert Report.
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