BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – A caged Bengal tiger was wheeled onto the Tiger Stadium field for the first time in nearly a decade before kickoff of Saturday night’s game between No. 14 LSU and No. 11 Alabama, granting Louisiana’s wishes. Gov. Jeff Landry.

The tiger wasn’t the one who lives on campus, Mike VII.

Following the death of the school’s previous 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 of a rare form of cancer, visited 33 of the 58 homes between 2007 and 2015.

While the university’s current live mascot, Mike VII – an 8-year-old, 345-pound tiger donated to the school from a shelter in 2017 – will not be brought onto the field for games, visitors can still see the tiger in his 15,000-year-old tiger. square meters of housing, which is located on campus next to the stadium.

As a work-around, Landry arranged to have a tiger imported from Florida for the match – much to the chagrin of animal rights activists, who protested outside the stadium.

As the tiger was dragged onto the field with a black curtain draped over the cage, huge screens played a short video detailing the history of LSU’s live mascot.

The stadium lights darkened and a spotlight was shined on the cage as the curtain was raised, revealing the tiger inside, as many fans cheered.

Initially the tiger lay down and soon after started pacing in a circle.

Minutes later, the cage was wheeled off the field as pre-match festivities continued.

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