So then your idea of it being weird is, as I had said I agreed with, is that it is saltire behind the shield and not as a result of it being an inanimate object.
Daniel C. Boyer wrote:
And there are garbs as supporters in the arms of Lord Boyd-Orr, and, and, and. It’s the position that makes them not supporters rather than that they’re inanimate—things in saltire behind the shield are pretty much not going to be supporters whereas on either side they are (there are rare occasions of mere badges being used this way), and sometimes there’s a single supporter (usually some type of bird though it need not be) behind the shield.
this is an example of a single supporter which is not behind the shield they were the arms of the now defunct waterschap Hollands Kroon.
Daniel C. Boyer wrote:
And there are garbs as supporters in the arms of Lord Boyd-Orr, and, and, and. It’s the position that makes them not supporters rather than that they’re inanimate—things in saltire behind the shield are pretty much not going to be supporters whereas on either side they are (there are rare occasions of mere badges being used this way), and sometimes there’s a single supporter (usually some type of bird though it need not be) behind the shield.
Also see http://www.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=582&ProjectElementID=2051 for a very unusual example of a single supporter.