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PETA slams LSU with statement over live tiger attending game vs. Alabama

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•11/07/24•

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Dale Zanine | USA TODAY Sports

After LSU decided to have a live tiger in the stadium for Saturday’s game against Alabama, PETA released a statement criticizing the decision. The organization slammed the university for bringing a live animal to Tiger Stadium after previously doing away with the practice.

Mike the Tiger was a staple at LSU games as he was driven around prior to kickoff, but the university stopped doing so in 2017 when it adopted Mike VII. However, the tiger that will be at Saturday’s game will not be Mike VII and instead be one from a wildlife refuge at the urging of Gov. Jeff Landry.

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In its statement, PETA cited the “chaos and stress” a live tiger faces in front of so many people. It also criticized LSU for agreeing to the governor’s idea to bring the animal to the game.

“It’s shameful and out of touch with today’s respect for wild species that LSU has bowed to Gov. Jeff Landry’s campaign to display a live tiger at its football games to amuse the fans,” the statement read. “LSU rightly ended this idiotic, archaic practice nearly a decade ago after recognizing that it was cruel to subject a sensitive big cat to the noise, lights, and crowds in a football stadium.

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“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.”

In September, LSU head coach Brian Kelly was asked about the possibility of a live tiger at games after Landry broached the subject. He left those answers to the school as well as decision-makers, such as the animal’s veterinarians, to handle that discussion and decision.

“I heard about it all on Twitter,” Kelly said. “I don’t have any comments, obviously, on that. That is something that I’ll let our university and those that are much more educated on that to come up with a statement and make decisions on that. That is something that I just don’t have enough information on.”