BATON ROUGE – For the first time in several years, a live tiger will be present at Tiger Stadium during Saturday’s SEC matchup against Alabama. However, the tiger is not LSU’s beloved Mike VII, and the decision has stirred controversy.
Governor Jeff Landry has long advocated for bringing LSU’s mascot back to football games. In October, during a press conference, Landry recalled how Nebraska’s governor shared a memory of playing an away game at LSU, where he encountered Mike the Tiger near the visitors’ locker room.
“Think about how intimidating that is,” Landry said.
LSU made the decision to stop bringing Mike the Tiger into Tiger Stadium for games in 2016.
“Everybody that has some anxiety over this needs to calm down,” Landry said in the conference. “This is an opportunity for us to showcase the great work y’all do academically and athletically. I think many people in the state of Louisiana would appreciate it.”
He also said that bringing a live tiger onto the field would “honor Mike VI.” And he added that tigers living in sanctuaries, like Mike VII, tend to live longer than those in the wild, noting they can “visit a veterinarian whenever needed.”
‘Maybe we can get this tiger to roar a couple of times’
On Nov. 8, the governor confirmed that a live tiger would indeed be at the stadium for Saturday’s game, though it wouldn’t be Mike VII. In an interview with FOX News, Landry expressed excitement about continuing the tradition.
“Our hope is that maybe that we can get this tiger to roar a couple of times and that’ll indicate how many touchdowns we’ll have and it’ll be more than Alabama,” Landry said on FOX.
Louisiana’s Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, a former veterinarian, also issued a statement addressing concerns about the tiger’s welfare.
“We had numerous discussions and took every step to ensure this was safe for the tiger. I spent several hours with the tiger last night and you could tell he was comfortable around people and enjoyed the attention. He’s in great health, well cared for by his owners and socially acclimated. As both a veterinarian and medical doctor, I couldn’t think of a better day to literally and figuratively be a tiger.”
The tiger, named Omar Bradley, is owned by Mitch Kalmanson, an exotic animal owner from Florida. Kalmanson, who insures exotic animal owners, gained attention in 2012 through a news report on ABC highlighting his unique insurance business for exotic animals.
Kalmanson’s company, the Lester Kalmanson Agency, “specializes in insuring rare and unusual risks,” according to its website.
Despite the excitement from some fans, multiple petitions opposing Omar’s presence at the game are circulating, citing concerns for the tiger’s safety in such a noisy environment. One petition has already garnered nearly 9,000 verified signatures.
At the time of publication, six petitions are circulating on Change.org.
‘A can of worms’
Dr. Lindsey Carr, a veterinarian and LSU alum who served as a caretaker for Mike VI, voiced her concerns about the decision to bring Omar into the stadium. While she clarified she does not speak for the university or LSU’s Veterinary School, she believes the decision is opening “a can of worms.”
“If the professionals think it’s a bad idea, it’s a bad idea,” she told UWK.
Carr’s concerns extend beyond Omar’s welfare to the safety of fans and the university itself. She warned that this decision could attract aggressive animal extremists who might pose a risk to public safety.
As a former student caretaker, Carr recalled how the identities of caretakers were initially kept confidential to protect them from harassment.
“The governor thinks it’s more important to have a random tiger in the stadium than to keep the fans in the stadium safe,” she said.
She recalled her experience of bringing Mike VI into the stadium for his final game in 2015. “It was not fun for him and it was not fun for us,” she recalled.
Carr also expressed concerns about LSU’s ability to keep Mike VII if the USDA were to revoke the university’s permit for housing a tiger.
She believes there are bigger questions that need answering before moving forward: “Is campus safe? Is Mike VII safe? Is the money being spent on this money that could have been spent on something better?”
In a release issued Thursday, Nov. 7, PETA condemmed LSU and the governor’s decision to bring a live tiger back into the stadium, calling it “shameful and out of touch with today’s respect for wild species.” PETA also highlighted past USDA citations against Kalmanson, including one from May 2024, when he was barred from bringing tigers to a car show in Georgia due to local ordinances restricting wild animals.
The LSU game against Alabama will take place Nov. 9 with kickoff at 6:30 p.m.
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