A caged Bengal tiger was wheeled on to the field of Tiger Stadium in Louisiana’s capital of Baton Rouge for the first time in nearly a decade before kick-off of Saturday night’s football game between the state’s flagship university and its Alabama counterpart, fulfilling the wishes of the state’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry.
The tiger in question – whose forced participation outraged animal rights activists – was not the one which lives on the Louisiana State University (LSU) campus, Mike VII.
Its name is Omar Bradley, ostensibly in honor of the famed US military general from the second world war. The animal is reportedly owned by a man with a history of citations from the US agriculture department over a lack of proper care for his animals, according to the Louisiana newspaper the Advocate.
Following the death of the school’s previous tiger, Mike VI, in 2016, LSU announced that future Mike the Tigers, the school’s mascot, would no longer be brought on to the field – ending a longstanding campus tradition.
According to the school’s website, Mike VI, who died from a rare form of cancer, had attended 33 of 58 home games between 2007 and 2015.
While the university’s current live mascot, Mike VII – an eight-year-old, 345-pound tiger donated to the school from a sanctuary in 2017 – is not brought on to the field for games, visitors can still see the tiger in his 15,000 sq ft (1,394 sq metre) enclosure, which is on the campus adjacent to the stadium.
As a workaround, Landry arranged for a tiger to be imported from Florida for the game – much to the chagrin of animal rights activists, who protested outside the stadium.
Many also questioned Landry spending the efforts of his government on the stunt with his state being ranked as the worst overall – and one of the most dangerous – in the US just months earlier.
When the tiger was towed on to the field with a black curtain draped over the cage, huge display boards played a short video detailing the history of LSU’s live mascot.
Stadium lights darkened and a spotlight was pointed at the cage as the curtain was lifted, revealing the tiger inside as many fans cheered.
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Initially, the tiger was lying down, and soon after started pacing in a circle.
Minutes later, the cage was wheeled off the field as pre-game festivities went on.
LSU’s football team entered Saturday ranked 14th in the US and hoped to boost its chances of competing for a national championship by defeating 11th-ranked Alabama. But, perhaps to the delight of Omar Bradley’s supporters, Alabama routed LSU 42-13.
The Associated Press contributed reporting