BATON ROUGE (WGNO) – LSU’s next Mike the Tiger may be a member of the 2017-2018 freshman class.
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine announced it plans to have a new live tiger mascot by August. It also says the school’s tiger habitat will undergo renovations starting in April to make it an accredited tiger sanctuary.
To get the sanctuary designation, LSU’s care of the new tiger must meet standards. For that reason, the veterinary school says the next Mike the Tiger will no longer attend home football games in Tiger Stadium. Instead, it will live seven days a week in the renovated habitat. LSU fans will still be able to see Mike the Tiger on game days in his yard.
The next Mike the Tiger will be the school’s seventh live mascot. LSU says the last three tigers have been donated by rescue facilities. It says it does not support the for-profit breeding industry and has not purchased a live tiger since Mike III in 1956.