This weekend, No. 14 LSU will take on No. 11 Alabama in a massive SEC matchup. LSU will reportedly have an unexpected presence on the sideline Saturday: a live tiger.
Per multiple media reports, the Tigers will have a live mascot for the first time in nearly a decade, with state Sen. Bill Wheat confirming the news to the Louisiana Illuminator. The school has not had a tiger in the stadium since 2015, following the death of mascot Mike VI from cancer in 2016.
The return of the tiger is seemingly in response to Gov. Jeff Landry, who said earlier this fall that he wanted to bring a live mascot back to LSU. Surgeon general Ralph Abraham, who is a veterinarian, has also been instrumental in the operation. Per the Illuminator, Landry set up an unofficial committee to lobby LSU on the issue, involving Wheat, who is also a veterinarian.
LSU will use tiger from owner with past complaints, including two escapes
Wheat told the Illuminator that the live mascot will not be Mike VII, the 8-year-old tiger who became the school’s mascot in 2017. Mike VII lives in an enclosure across from the stadium, and has never attended an LSU football game.
Abraham had reportedly suggested bringing in a second tiger to address concerns about bringing Mike VII to a game. The origin of the second tiger was revealed hours later by WBRZ to be a full-sized, one-year-old juvenile named Omar Bradley.
The tiger’s owner, Mitchel Kalmanson, is no stranger to animal welfare advocates. PETA, which objects to the use of live tigers in a loud stadium on principle, has a laundry list of complaints against him, including two escapes via employee error in 2003 and 2004.
Mike VI, the previous mascot, was the final tiger to grace the sideline at Tigers games. As with previous Mikes, Mike VI was placed in a trailer cage and brought to the stadium, and was occasionally provoked to roar.
Mike VII, the current mascot, was donated from a sanctuary in Florida as a cub in 2017, according to a website run by the school, at which point the school decided to stop the gameday tradition. Per the school, LSU has not bought a tiger since Mike III, and has only adopted cubs from rescue facilities.