Mission: Urge Louisiana Governor and LSU to Leave Tigers out of Football Games

Posted by Calvin on November 14, 2024

Update (November 14, 2024): After nearly universal public condemnation following the exploitation of a live tiger at a Louisiana State University (LSU) football game at Gov. Jeff Landry’s request, LSU’s student government unanimously passed a resolution yesterday calling for an end to the cruel practice. 🎉🎉 The move puts the students in line with experts—including LSU’s own veterinarians and Bill Wheat, a veterinarian and state senator who confirmed in a statement that he “felt strongly” that bringing a tiger to the game was a bad idea. PETA sent these students a box of vegan chocolates as a thank-you for standing up for animals. 

Only one person thought it was a good idea to bring a stressed tiger to a noisy football game: Louisiana’s Tiger King wannabe governor, who didn’t even attend LSU. Landry’s desperate bid for attention backfired spectacularly, and PETA hopes he’s learned his lesson and will leave tigers alone.

Original post:

At Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s heartless request, Louisiana State University (LSU) has ignored nearly universal outcry by bringing back a cruel school tradition: forcing a live tiger to be crammed into a transport cage and surrounded by a stadium full of fans at football games. 🐯😰 Tigers naturally chill by themselves and shun human contact, and to deny them their nature by treating them like a sideline spectacle is the epitome of speciesism––a human-supremacist worldview.

After LSU’s own veterinarians reportedly declined Gov. Landry’s request to force Mike VII, the live tiger mascot who lives on campus, onto the sidelines, Landry turned to Mitchel Kalmanson––a longtime circus exhibitor whose history includes decades of citations for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act. For the November 2024 football game, Kalmanson forced a one-year-old tiger named Omar Bradley to endure the 10-hour drive from Florida to LSU. Footage from the game documented Omar panting and pacing inside a tiny transport trailer. PETA filed a complaint with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries because, unsurprisingly, Kalmanson apparently brought Omar into the state illegally.

Nearly a decade ago, LSU ditched this tradition of tiger torment—partly bc of negative reactions that Mike VI, Mike VII’s predecessor, had to being blasted with disorienting lights and noise. He reportedly even “became resistant to getting into a trailer cage to attend the game.” According to the same report, LSU’s own veterinarians and state Rep. Wayne McMahen––also a veterinarian––expressed to Landry that forcing another tiger into that situation would be fundamentally stressful and could have a serious impact on the wild animal’s health. 😟

Help Make a Change

Sports games featuring human mascots are already exciting af—there’s no need to put an animal through the intense stress of being a spectacle at games. Follow these steps to help ensure that a tiger won’t be traumatized at LSU again and earn 30 peta2 points in our Rewards Program:

1. Comment on one of Landry’s IG posts or e-mail him at [email protected] urging him to leave this cruel publicity stunt in the history books and leave tigers alone. 🛑

2. Comment on one of LSU’s IG posts or e-mail LSU President Dr. William F. Tate IV at  [email protected] urging him to do the same.

3. Take a screenshot of your comment and submit it for 15 peta2 points. (Heads-up: You’ll only get points once for taking this action.)

You must be logged in to complete missions.