BATON ROUGE, La. — A live tiger entered LSU's Tiger Stadium on Saturday for the SEC game against Alabama, following confirmation of its attendance by Gov. Jeff Landry on Friday. The tiger was seen lying down in a cage, and then was quickly taken off the field, according to Nola.com.
The tiger, named Omar, spent about seven minutes on the field. He was removed before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff, our partners reported.
Omar was seen on the sidelines either lying down or walking around the cage and got some cheers from the crowd.
Videos flooded social media, showing Omar inside the Tiger Stadium.
According to Nola.com, Mike the Tiger used to attend football games but the school ended the practice in 2015.
The decision to bring Omar the tiger into the stadium created controversy amongst LSU fans. Just before the game began, a protest was held by some Tiger fans against bringing Omar on the field.
On Saturday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a complaint, urging the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to take action, Nola.com reported.
Our partners at WBRZ said that Omar is under the custody of " Mitchel Kalmanson, who operates the World Wild Exotic Animal Talent agency based in Maitland, Florida."
The complaint asks that Wildlife and Fisheries take "all available remedies" against Kalmanson. They said he's been involved in "multiple tiger escapes and incidents in the past."
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