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Report: Live tiger mascot set to return to Tiger Stadium for Alabama-LSU game

On3 imageby:Andrew Graham•about 9 hours•

AndrewEdGraham

Mike VII (LSU)
(@MikeTheTiger)

LSU is going old school and will have a live tiger in the stadium against Alabama this weekend, according to a report from 104.5 ESPN. It would be the first time since 2015 that LSU has brought a live tiger inside the confines of the stadium.

For years, it was commonplace for Mike the Tiger to be driven around Tiger Stadium prior to kickoff, safely in the confines of his cage. That practice stopped with the latest Mike being adopted by the school in 2017, and the current Mike — Mike VII — will not be the actual tiger being used for the display.

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The tiger being used on Saturday night will reportedly be one brought in from a wildlife refuge, at the behest of Governor Jeff Landry.

And with Alabama coming to town for a vaunted SEC rivalry — and one with massive College Football Playoff implications — it seems LSU is pulling out every stop to remind the Crimson Tide that Baton Rouge is where the Tigers roam.

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Landry has previously pushed for LSU to re-adopt the tradition.

“I think the opportunity to bring our mascot back onto the field is an unbelievable opportunity,” Landry said in September.

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LSU head coach Brian Kelly was asked about the possibility 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.”

The university had pushed back on grounds that it is inhumane to the tiger to subject it to the stresses of being wheeled around the field with 100,000-plus cheering fans in attendance. As such, the current live tiger mascot, Mike VII, lives across the street from Tiger Stadium in his 15,000 square foot enclosure.

But with an alternate tiger now available to be paraded around the stadium on Saturday, LSU is once again hammering home who Tiger Stadium belongs to.