Thursday, May 24, 2007

Geaux Tigers!

The pitiful, pathetic pests at PETA are pretty perturbed. When the Louisiana State University mascot, Mike V, passed away last Friday, Lisa Wathne, PETA's Captive Exotic Animal Specialist, fired off a letter to the university asking that they refrain from replacing the beloved tiger. She suggested a (literally) more humane alternative:

Costumed human mascots are currently in use at most universities, and no major professional sports team includes live animals in its mascot program. The versatility of human performers allows them to interact directly with fans and entertain them throughout the game by leading cheers, reacting to the crowd, and pumping up the team. A frightened animal can’t do any of these things. Human mascots can also promote the team within the community and participate in community service. For example, the Jacksonville Jaguars sent their costumed human mascot to the Middle East in 2001 to support U.S. troops.

I guess the folks at PETA think that taking a student dressed up as a tiger and turning him loose in the visitors' section after every LSU touchdown would be just as exciting as the real thing, but hey...that just ain't the way things are done down in Death Valley!

Mike the Tiger has been a tradition at LSU for over 70 years. In fact, the symbol of the tiger has been associated with Louisiana ever since Lincoln's War of Northern Aggression. Should a small group of maladjusted malcontents be allowed to destroy that tradition?

Fortunately, LSU politely told PETA where to go. University officials are already planning to get another tiger before the start of the 2007 football season.