Louisiana Gov. On Monday, Jeff Landry defended his efforts to include a live cat to LSU sports games while ignoring concerns from animal rights organizations.
This past weekend, at Landry’s insistence, LSU brought a cat named Omar Bradley to its facility for a match against Alabama, despite the animal’s manager facing federal investigation. Mitchel Kalmanson, the animal welfare act’s caretaker, has been accused of breaking the requirements and receiving federal citations for her, including a lack of proper documentation for the animals, inappropriate protections at events, and bird abuse and neglect.
Since 2015, when past life symbol Mike VI had negative responses to the quiet environment and flashing lights, the institution had n’t added a live cat to a game.

Speaking at a live function Monday after LSU lost 42-13 to Alabama on Saturday nights, Landry called reviewers “woke” and criticized the LSU basketball crew for its battle while Omar Bradley, the lion, was in enrollment.
” Our lion, our life cat, however, rather, was the only cat who showed up Saturday. I’m sorry”, Landry said, according to The Advocate.
Landry added:” It’s about history. These awake people have, in the end, attempted to expel history from this nation. It’s history that built this region”. He added that more than some of the basketball player’s best on-field moments, people told him they still remember life tigers at home games. And he lamented that leaders” threw out” Omar Bradley from public see” after 10 days”.
Landry’s office informed The Advocate that state funding did not contribute to the great cat’s Saturday performance at Tiger Stadium, whose payment is still undetermined. Landry has huge advocated for life lions, and he made those remarks on Monday for the third time in 2024.
Mike VI, the lion who was retired from sport activities nine years before, attended 33 of LSU’s 58 home prizes from 2007 through 2015. He passed away in 2016 from a rare form of cancer.
While 8-year-old Mike VII does not go to sports, he has been LSU’s official mascot since 2017 and lives near the facility. The class declined to make him available on Saturday, leading to Omar Bradley’s position.
A request for comment on this story was not immediately addressed by LSU members.