The LSU Tigers football team is taking the phrase “eye of a tiger” to a whole new level.
The team is bringing a live tiger for an appearance at the Tigers’ game against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday in Baton Rogue, according to a report. The Illuminator.com reports a Bengal tiger named Omar Bradley is being sent to Baton Rouge for Saturday’s contest in Tiger Stadium.
The appearance of the Tiger at the game was originally suggested by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who wanted to bring in a live tiger to a game, which was done during his days as a student at LSU. The university abandoned the practice of bringing a live tiger to games nearly a decade ago after receiving a U.S. Department of Agriculture license to hold their mascot, Mike VII, on campus. Mike VII lives in an enclosure on campus, but doesn’t appear in the stadium during games.
Landry and Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, who’s also a veterinarian, have been negotiating with LSU’s veterinary school for several weeks in an attempt for the department to relent and allow Mike VII to appear in the stadium. The school has strongly resisted, leading to Landry and Abraham to seek out other options.
According to the People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the 1.5-year-old tiger belongs Mitchel Kalmanson, who is identified as the operator of an insurance company that specializes in exotic animals. PETA issued a statement saying it is strongly against the appearance of the tiger at the game, saying placing the animal in a stadium with more than 100,000 noisy fans will be extremely stressful.
“It’s shameful and out of touch with today’s respect for wild species that LSU has bowed to Gov. Landry’s campaign to display a live tiger at its football games to amuse the fans,” Klayton Rutherford, PETA Foundation associate director of captive wildlife research, said in a statement to the Illuminator. “Whether the tiger is confined to campus or shipped in from elsewhere, no reputable facility would subject a tiger to such chaos and stress, and PETA and nearly 50,000 of its supporters have already called on Landry to let up and leave big cats alone — and are now urging LSU to grow a spine and just say no.”
