"It's shameful": PETA rips LSU to shreds amid reports of bringing live tiger to the Alabama game

Tiger Stadium, or "Death Valley," has always put on a spectacle for LSU home games, but according to reports, the pageantry might go too far for this weekend's game.

People for the Ethnic Treatment of Animals, or PETA, contacted LSU after reports indicated that the program would be bringing in a live tiger into Death Valley for the game. PETA strongly insisted that the program reconsider this action.

“It’s shameful and out of touch with today’s respect for wild species that LSU has bowed to Gov. Landry’s campaign to display a live tiger at its football games to amuse the fans,” a statement from PETA remarked.

“LSU rightly ended this idiotic, archaic practice nearly a decade ago after recognizing that it was cruel to subject a sensitive big cat to the noise, lights, and crowds in a football stadium.”

A Discontinued Trend

LSU discontinued the tradition of bringing a live tiger into the stadium in 2016 after its official mascot "Mike VI" passed away at the age of 8-years-old, ushering in Mike VII, who has not made any public appearances at games. This would be the first reintroduction of a live tiger in the stadium in eight years. At the moment, LSU's administration has not come out with a public comment in response to PETA's statement.

Head coach Brian Kelly has a simpler thought during a press conference on Thursday:

"I'm a big tiger fan."

The tradition of bringing a live tiger into the stadium was rekindled by current governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry. Because Mike VII has never been out of his habitat on the LSU campus, it would be difficult to introduce him to a new environment, especially one as chaotic as a football stadium. To solve that issue, organizers decided to replace Mike VII with a new tiger.

“As you would expect, it would be very difficult to be able to try to move Mike out of an area he’s never been out of,” Landry said in an interview Thursday.

Landry has called for the tradition to come back for years, but the university pushed back because of the moral standards that PETA expressed in its statement. Mike VI was presented at games for one year under head coach Ed Orgeron and then the tradition was discontined.

LSU's game against the Alabama Crimson Tide is set for 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday.