Gov. Jeff Landry confirmed his support on Tuesday of restarting the tradition of bringing Louisiana State University’s live tiger mascot onto the football field ahead of home games.

It has been nearly a decade since a Bengal Tiger has been rolled out in a cage under the lights of Death Valley, LSU’s famed Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge where the school’s football team plays. University officials have not publicly said whether they are willing to revive the tradition, but that didn’t stop Landry from sharing his own opinion when asked by reporters.

“I think the opportunity to bring our mascot back onto that field is an unbelievable opportunity,” Landry said during an unrelated news conference on Tuesday.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has vehemently objected to the idea. In early September, the organization sent a letter to Landry urging against the tradition, describing it as cruel and dangerous to the mascot’s welfare and adding that tigers are “naturally solitary animals who don’t belong in rowdy football stadiums.”

“Going back to the bad old days of using a wild animal as a sideline sideshow in 2024 is the last thing LSU should do, and PETA is appealing to Gov. Landry to drop this boneheaded idea,” the letter read.

On Tuesday, Landry said that “everybody that has some anxiety over this needs to calm down.”

The Associated Press emailed a spokesperson for LSU, the athletics department and the university’s School of Veterinary Medicine for a comment, but it did not receive an immediate response.

For years, the school’s live mascot would ride through the stadium in a travel trailer “topped by the LSU cheerleaders” before home games, based on information about the mascot on the LSU Athletics’ webpage. Before entering the stadium, the cage, with the tiger nicknamed Mike in it, would be parked next to the opponent’s locker room — forcing the visiting team to pass it.

Some of the live mascots even traveled with the team — brought to area games, the 1985 Sugar Bowl and the Superdome in New Orleans in 1991.

Following the death of the school’s tiger, Mike VI, in 2016, LSU announced that future Mike the Tigers would no longer be brought onto the field. According to the school’s website, Mike VI, who died from a rare form of cancer, had attended 33 of 58 home between 2007 and 2015.

While the university’s current live mascot, Mike VII — an 8-year-old and 345-pound tiger that was donated to the school from a sanctuary in 2017 — is not brought onto the field for games, visitors can still see the tiger in his 15,000-square-foot enclosure, which is on the campus and next to the stadium.

In the past, animal rights groups have called on LSU to stop keeping live tiger mascots. The school says it is providing a home to a tiger that needs one while also working to educate people about “irresponsible breeding and the plight of tigers kept illegally and/or inappropriately in captivity in the U.S.,” according to the athletics’ website.

Louisiana is not the only school that is home to a live mascot. Other examples include Yale University’s Handsome Dan, a bulldog; University of Texas at Austin’s Bevo the Longhorn, who appears on the field before football games; and University of Colorado’s Ralphie the Buffalo, who runs across the field with its handlers before kickoff.

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – Thanks to strong support from Southwest Louisiana, the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts has revealed its specialty-designed license plate. We spoke with executive director Tiger Verdin and the director of McNeese Banners Dr. Brook Hanemann to get more information.

The new license plates are now available for pre-order for anyone who wants to get them for their car. They were designed by a Lafayette artist, Denise Gallagher.

The idea for the license plate came from Banners at McNeese as part of its mission to support and promote the arts statewide. Our area was actually the first to acquire all the required signatures needed for the project, in large part due to local events like Rouge et Blanc and Gallery Promenade as well as a push from local artist Candace Alexander.

You can pre-order the plate at www.artforlouisiana.com.

Tickets are also still available for Rouge et Blanc at www.banners.org.

Copyright 2024 KPLC. All rights reserved.

SAN DIEGO (KGTV)— Three members of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department’s Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 8 are in the hospital in Louisiana after getting into a crash while responding to Hurricane Helene relief efforts.

Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast, leaving behind unimaginable death and destruction from Florida to North Carolina. Monday, President Biden addressed the tragedy and the firefighters severely injured in a crash on their way to help.

“They were in a terrible car accident in Louisiana. We pray for their full recovery, but it was a bad accident,” said the president.

The accident happened just before three am Sunday in a remote area near the Texas Louisiana Border. Three San Diego Fire-Rescue Department crew members were seriously injured. They include a battalion chief and two captains. They were in a Ford 350 that was involved in a crash with an 18-wheeler. It’s unclear what caused the crash. The victims were airlifted to Louisiana State University in Shreveport.

Back in San Diego, the non-profit Firefighter Aid is ready to help.

“It’s hard on the department. The firefighters are very close. Their department is very close. They are with each other everyday and have each other’s back, so when one bad thing happens to somebody, they feel it throughout,” said Sara Berns, Executive Director of Firefighter Aid.

ABC 10News was there Friday evening when members of California Task Force 8 loaded up into eighteen vehicles and headed east for North Carolina. The type III Water Rescue team includes thirty-two firefighters from San Diego’s Fire Rescue and firefighters from departments across the county.

Batallion Chief Aide Barbat talked about their past experience right before they left Friday evening.

“The team has deployed to many hurricanes. Katrina was probably the biggest even after that multiple hurricanes,” said Chief Barbat.

The task force has helped with search and rescue efforts during disasters as far back as Sept. 11. This is the first time members have been involved in a serious accident. The department has not released their names.