BATON ROUGE, La. \u2014 Gov. Jeff Landry confirmed his support on Tuesday of restarting the tradition of bringing Louisiana State University\u2019s live tiger mascot onto the football field ahead of home games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has been nearly a decade since a Bengal Tiger has been rolled out in a cage under the lights of Death Valley, LSU\u2019s famed Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, where the school\u2019s football team plays. University officials have not publicly said whether they are willing to revive the tradition, but that didn\u2019t stop Landry from sharing his own opinion when asked by reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think the opportunity to bring our mascot back onto that field is an unbelievable opportunity,\u201d Landry said during an unrelated news conference Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has vehemently objected to the idea. In early September, the organization sent a letter to Landry urging against the tradition, describing it as cruel and dangerous to the mascot\u2019s welfare and adding that tigers are \u201cnaturally solitary animals who don\u2019t belong in rowdy football stadiums.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGoing back to the bad old days of using a wild animal as a sideline sideshow in 2024 is the last thing LSU should do, and PETA is appealing to Gov. Landry to drop this boneheaded idea,\u201d the letter read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, Landry said that \u201ceverybody that has some anxiety over this needs to calm down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Associated Press emailed a spokesperson for LSU, the athletics department and the university\u2019s School of Veterinary Medicine for a comment, but it did not receive an immediate response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For years, the school\u2019s live mascot would ride through the stadium in a travel trailer pulled by a pickup truck with several LSU cheerleaders riding on top before home games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before entering the stadium, the cage, with the tiger nicknamed Mike in it, would be parked next to the opponent\u2019s locker room \u2014 forcing the visiting team to pass it. At one time, the tiger would be prodded until it roared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the early 2000s, the vet school stopped allowing the tiger to be prodded, but instead, a stuffed Tigger doll was waved in front of the tiger until it roared. The caretakers for the veterinary school were the ones who decided to stop bringing the tiger into the stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the live mascots even traveled with the team \u2014 brought to area games, the 1985 Sugar Bowl and the Superdome in New Orleans in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the death of the school\u2019s tiger, Mike VI, in 2016, LSU announced that future Mike the Tigers would no longer be brought onto the field. According to the school\u2019s website, Mike VI, who died from a rare form of cancer, had attended 33 of 58 home between 2007 and 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the university\u2019s current live mascot, Mike VII \u2014 an 8-year-old and 345-pound tiger that was donated to the school from a sanctuary in 2017 \u2014 is not brought onto the field for games, visitors can still see the tiger in his 15,000-square-foot enclosure, which is on the campus and next to the stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the past, animal rights groups have called on LSU to stop keeping live tiger mascots. The school says it is providing a home to a tiger that needs one while also working to educate people about \u201cirresponsible breeding and the plight of tigers kept illegally and\/or inappropriately in captivity in the U.S.,\u201d according to the athletics\u2019 website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Louisiana is not the only school that is home to a live mascot. Other examples include Yale University\u2019s Handsome Dan, a bulldog; University of Texas at Austin\u2019s Bevo the Longhorn, who appears on the field before football games; and University of Colorado\u2019s Ralphie the Buffalo, who runs across the field with its handlers before kickoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n