re: Need to bring Mike in the stadium for Georgia and Bama

quote:

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Not bringing him into the stadium and forcing him into the cage was part of the agreement of getting a new Tiger.

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I realize that this is the popular consensus narrative, but it's simply incorrect .... there is no governing body that LSU had to make an "official agreement" with before we could get a new tiger, and organizations like PETA have no governing official authority whatsoever, other than "the court of public opinion"... our decision to no longer bring our tiger out on game-days was ENTIRELY voluntary, and based upon nothing else than the last tiger being frightened by fireworks set off next to his travel trailer while on the field - before that, he enjoyed going for a ride-around on game-days; after that, he refused to enter the trailer.

He is OUR tiger and we can do what we want to with him; there is no higher authority that we have to answer to, or cut deals with - there are organizations that give accreditation to zoos and wildlife rescue facilities for meeting humane and ethical standards (which we meet or exceed, BTW) but they hold no authority to shut anyone down or confiscate animals for failing to meet those standards. Should we choose to take our tiger for a little ride on game-days, there's really not a damn thing anybody else could do about it to stop us...

Memphis has an air-conditioned, sound-proof trailer and can take their mascot out and parade him around if they want to.... nobody issues rules about what Texas or Colorado can or can't do with their cow or buffalo.... we could take our tiger to the stadium for games if our administration had the balls and sense of tradition necessary to withstand the criticism from outside animal-rights groups.