BATON ROUGE — Members of LSU's student government have passed a resolution asking the school to bar the display of live tigers during sporting events, regardless of whether the governor wants to restore a tradition, the university's student newspaper reported.The Student Senate resolution was sponsored by 15 senators and passed unanimously Wednesday night, The Reveille said. The non-binding resolution will be forwarded to LSU President William F. Tate IV, LSU athletic director Scott Woodward and Gov. Jeff Landry. Landry this fall proposed bringing a tiger into the stadium.LSU has an on-campus mascot, Mike VII, but the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine was unable or unwilling to bring him into the 102,000-seat arena. The vet school is in charge of Mike's care, and years ago received a U.S. Department of Agriculture permit to hold him on campus. Landry, or someone working with him, turned to a Florida exotic-animal handler to supply a tiger. WBRZ last week traced the tiger to Mitchel Kalmanson, who has a history of federal animal abuse violations. Kalmanson told WBRZ on Sunday that the tiger, an 18-month-old named Omar Bradley, wasn't stressed during his appearance the night before.LSU cheerleaders formerly rode atop Mike's cage as it paraded throughout the stadium. The practice ended nearly a decade ago. In Saturday night's appearance, the tiger substitute was on the field less than 10 minutes and was miles away when fireworks were set off as part of the pre-game sequence.According to The Reveille, a member of the LSU Wildlife Society told the student senators that the university had violated the spirit of an agreement with the USDA to hold a tiger on campus.“In LSU’s statement from 2017 when Mike VII arrived on campus, LSU declared their mission to raise awareness about the problem of tigers being kept inappropriately in captivity," senior Donna Long said. "By enabling Mitchel Kalmanson, who has been cited numerous times for the mistreatment of animals, especially tigers, this institution has directly contradicted its mission.”Another senior, Corbitt Driskell, said there was also an economic reason to end the tradition: “We had to expend a lot of resources for the cops and security guards outside of the cage at all times, outside of the enclosure, for the tiger that we trucked in from Florida,” Driskell said.Kalmanson wouldn't say who paid for Omar's appearance and that he was responsible for the tiger's insurance policy as part of his agreement with who hired him; Landry's office said no state funds were spent.Landry reportedly said this week that whoever opposed taking a tiger into the stadium was "woke."Permalink| Comments