BATON ROUGE — On Friday, Nov. 8, Gov. Jeff Landry confirmed that a live tiger, named Omar, would appear at the LSU-Alabama game on Saturday, sparking more backlash that had started the previous day. Many questioned who the tiger was or why the advice of the university’s vet school was ignored.
The tiger in question coming to LSU was a big cat from Florida named Omar Bradley. Omar’s owner is Mitchel Kalmanson, whose company, the Lester Kalmanson Agency, insures exotic animal owners.
Kalmanson told UWK that he was contacted a couple months ago by a broker in California about someone needing a tiger. At the time, Kalmanson said he didn’t have all the details or know it was for the LSU game, but clarified that he is often contacted this way since he’s involved in the movie industry.
Because tigers are considered exotic animals and laws vary state by state, some who opposed the decision to bring in an out-of-state tiger were concerned about the owner having the permits to do so. Kalmanson said he was asked to do a background check, provide photos of his equipment and provide proof of licenses and permits before being hired.
He added that he has the necessary licenses and permits for travel, along with the vehicle and cage for transportation, so he often receives contacts requesting the tigers for conventions, parties and other events.
Omar Bradley visits LSU
Omar was born along with several other cubs at Kalmanson’s facility around Memorial Day 2023. Kalmanson’s wife named the cubs after WWII generals, which is how the tiger got his name: Omar Bradley.
The experience of being in Louisiana was great; from air conditioners and fans for Omar to security, the owner said everything was “superb.”
“Omar was never stressed and seemed to like the experience,” Kalmanson said. Now that the big cat is home in Florida, he is “back in the hood with his brothers,” who enjoy playing together, he added.
“I got him home. He’s not stressed. He wasn’t stressed on the ride there. He wasn’t stressed on the ride back. We had a secure location for him where he was washed and rinsed every day, fed, exercised.”
The Friday before the big game, Kalmanson’s wife sat in his cage eating pizza with Omar’s head in her lap, he told UWK. He said she sat in the feline’s cage while people came up to take photos and meet him.
“We had toys for him. He had water,” he said. “You know, we feed him constantly–see how fat he is? We think that Omar, by this time next year, will probably double in size.”
Videos of Omar’s entrance into the stadium during pre-game show the cat walking to the back of the cage. “My wife kept calling him and he’s just rubbing up against the cage because she was there,” he told UWK.
Many of the concerns about the ethics of bringing a live tiger, or in this case Omar, into the LSU stadium for games, center on the stressors and amount of stimuli the animal experiences.
Kalmanson added that his tiger was never sedated and by the time the fireworks went off, they were close to two miles away from the stadium, which Kalmanson said he requested in his agreement to avoid additional stress during loading.
The tigers in Kalmanson’s care are regularly habituated to loading and unloading, which helps in times of emergency or veterinary care, he said. He said they get used to it from the time they are young to avoid scenarios where they would be afraid to go inside and then have to be sedated.
Before Saturday’s game against Alabama, Gov. Landry confirmed on Nov. 8 on FOX that a live tiger would be making an appearance in the stadium to honor the traditions of the past.
Louisiana’s Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, a former veterinarian, issued a statement addressing concerns about the tiger’s welfare before Saturday’s game:
“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.”
Kalmanson met both Landry and Abraham before Saturday’s game. He said the governor was very excited to meet the tiger and that the surgeon general stayed to both observe Omar and spend time with his owners.
“I said, if there’s a problem, or one hint of the animal stressing, we’re going to do something different. We had backup plans, but we were never going to compromise the animal,” Kalmanson said.
Opposing tradition
On Saturday afternoon before kickoff, Adelaide Gladney, an LSU fan and professional in the veterinary field, joined other LSU fans, veterinary professionals and students in protest of Omar’s visit. They held signs and passed out buttons and stickers about their disappointment in Gov. Landry’s decision.
She felt that their protest was a fairly positive experience and hopes that she and her fellow protestors were able to educate others on why the tradition of bringing a tiger into the stadium should end.
“We know better, so it’s time to do better,” Gladney said. “And we knew better 10 years ago when we stopped this tradition. I think it’s disappointing to bring it back. It shines a really bad light on LSU and it shines a really bad light on LSU Vet School.”
In addition to student petitions on change.org, PETA’s own petition gathered nearly 50,000 signatures and called for supporters to contact the governor about “abandoning this cruel publicity stunt.”
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.
Gladney said she’s a multi-generational Tigers fan and that means supporting the live tigers, too. She said it’s “disturbing” that when the professionals say that Mike wouldn’t be allowed back onto the field, someone can say “Fine, I’ll go get my own tiger.”
While she’s not sure whether their protest made much difference, Gladney is happy that the visit into the LSU stadium for Omar the tiger, was short and that he wasn’t paraded around or purposely agitated.
She said that although the governor hasn’t said anything publicly since Saturday’s game, she hopes that the reactions of LSU fans are loud and clear: “I hope he sees that people are watching, people are listening, and that Tiger fans love tigers. And we’re gonna step in and do the right thing when the right decision is clear.”
For fans who protested, Gladney said a lot of their motive came down to supporting Mike VII and wanting to ensure LSU doesn’t lose its privilege to have him.
“This is now way beyond Baton Rouge,” she said. “The whole world is looking at LSU saying, how barbaric that they wheeled a tiger around in a little cage and screamed at it in a Coliseum.”
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