Love Girl Scout cookies? Want a voice in naming the Girl Scout Cookie Mascot for 2026? If so, you can head to this link and cast your vote. This year you get to choose one of the following fine creatures: American Bison, Black Footed Ferret, Little Brown Bat, and Mountain Goat. Girl Scouts of the USA explains:
The top ranked animal will become a future Girl Scout Cookie Mascot! Simply select your favorite mascot—but remember, you only get one choice!
Oddly, the voting site makes you vote before providing descriptions of the choices. (Note to the Girl Scouts, you should probably fix that). Here's the after-the-fact info:
American Bison
Conservation Status: Near Threatened
Bison are considered a conservation success story and a show of America's strength and resilience. Today bison live in all 50 states, including Tribal lands, wildlife refuges, national parks and private lands. Most decisions are made by adult females in the herd and together they are good stewards of the land by helping other species like, birds, prairie dogs and elks' habitats. We can learn with leading by example. In 2016 it was named the first National mammal of the United States.
Black Footed Ferret
Conservation Status: Critically Endangered
Thought to be extinct, they were rediscovered in the mountains of Wyoming in 1981. They are considered a flagship species, which means saving them contributes to preserving lots of other important, but less well-known species and encourage a diversity of life in their habitat. The real unusual part of its story is that the Black-Footed Ferret is also the first endangered animal to be cloned.
Little Brown Bat
Conservation Status: Endangered
Bats are misunderstood and have many untrue myths surrounding them. As the sun sets, they get to work. These small but mighty creatures are pollinators, seed dispersers, insect controllers and a great indicator of biodiversity and are extremely beneficial to our North American ecosystem. They can fly about 12 miles per hour and as fast as 21 to 22 miles per hour and will fly up to two-to-three hours after dusk to feed. Let's be a myth buster for a generation.
Mountain Goat
Conservation Status: Not Endangered, but Vulnerable
Well, because they are a GOAT – Greatest of all Time! They are found in the mountains of south-central Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, South Dakota, and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. They are amazing at negotiating cliffs and finding a way to get what they want. They truly live on the edge.
Once the voting concludes and we have a winner, we won't hear about it for some time, however. The current mascot—for the 2024 cookie season—is an Axolotl. The results of the vote for the 2025 Girl Scout Cookie Mascot, which took place in November 2022 and included Lioness, Quokka, Tiger, Ring-tailed Lemur, Panda, and Macaw as choices, hasn't yet been announced. I was told by the Girl Scouts on their Facebook page that the mascot will be announced in Spring 2024. They also explained why there's so much time between voting and announcing the mascots:
Hi there! We work in partnership with our bakers to develop rewards around the mascots. The lead time for artwork, reward development, and procurement requires a significant amount of time to plan and prepare.
Certainly any of these creatures currently on the ballot for 2026 would make an amazing cookie mascot, and it was hard to choose just one. I ultimately voted for Mountain Goats (because, I mean, to know me is to know I love The Mountain Goats), but I was very much drawn to the American Bison because they've been working so hard to defend their land lately. If you want to help decide the 2026 mascot, click here to vote.
