BATON ROUGE – Veterinarians at LSU urge visitors to follow the rules when visiting Mike the Tiger’s habitat.
The reaction comes a few days after a video of Mike the Tiger stalking a man and pouncing on the glass of the habitat went viral. While it may seem funny, Ginger Guttner, the communications director for the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, told WBRZ that visitors should try not to provoke Mike the Tiger.
“He’s an ambush predator, so they tend to attack from the back, so when people turn their backs to glass it does make him want to do that,” said Guttner.
Warning signs were put up around Mike’s habitat to warn visitors to not do anything that would make him hit the fence or the glass because it he could hurt himself.
According to Guttner, if Mike were to jump at the glass, he could break a tooth and be unable to eat or require dental surgery. She also said that tooth loss is the number one cause of death for tigers in the wild.
Guttner wants people to visit and engage with Mike the Tiger, but in a way that keeps the tiger safe.
