More than two months after the death of Mike V, the University announced a candidate to become the next Mike the Tiger, and the potential mascot replacement is in Indiana.
The University announced Wednesday that the candidate is located at Great Cats of Indiana, a non-profit sanctuary and rescue facility for big cats and other large carnivores. The facility is located in Idaville, Ind.
More information on the facility can be found at www.greatcatsofindiana.org.
“I wouldn’t say it’s correct to say we have a Mike VI at this point,” said Ginger Guttner, spokesperson for the Vet School. “But [what] we have right now is a tiger who is identified as a candidate. Once he’s gone through the quarantine, and then we’re sure everything is fine, then he’ll be Mike VI.”
Plans are underway to transport the two-year-old male tiger – whose current location is unknown – to Louisiana.
“Plans are now underway to bring that tiger to LSU sometime in August,” Guttner said. “At which point the tiger will be quarantined for at least two weeks and after that – and only after that – will the tiger [be] Mike VI.”
Guttner said further information cannot be released at this time.
An anonymous Vet School source told The Daily Reveille that University officials were working with the USDA to legally obtain a tiger that may have been originally brought to the U.S. illegally. Last week, the USDA confirmed a meeting between its department and unnamed University officials. The exact content of the meeting is unknown.
“We have been in contact with LSU about replacing their tiger,” said Jessica Milteer, USDA Public affairs specialist in animal and plant health inspection.
Milteer said while the USDA does not technically have the authority to seize illegal tigers, it can work as an intermediary. She would not confirm if the tiger the USDA is helping the University find entered the U.S. illegally.
“Often times, if we have a facility we regulate if they want to find a new animal or say they need to find placement for an animal they have, we’ll always offer our facilities help,” Milteer said. “So the fact that we offered LSU help is no different from us offering any other facility that we would regulate help with anything they need regarding their animals.”
Guttner said there is a small possibility the new tiger will be on campus for the football home opener on Sept. 8 against Virginia Tech.
“Right now we’re not even sure how we’re going to get him down here,” Guttner said. “The plan is to have it happen in August. And whether or not that’s before the first football game, I honestly can’t tell you.”
LSU Senior Associate Athletic Director Herb Vincent said the Athletic Department is in communication with the Vet School about Mike’s arrival, but would leave all major decisions regarding Mike VI’s first public appearance up to Director of Laboratory Animal Medicine Dr. David Baker and his staff.
“We’re following Dr. Baker’s lead on that,” Vincent said. “We would certainly like to have him by then, but we’re going to depend on Dr. David Baker to tell us when he’s coming, when he’s ready to go to the games and all the other things Mike has traditionally done.”
Guttner said the University is working on transportation issues and will release more information as it becomes available.
Once the tiger has arrived, he will be quarantined at an unknown location for approximately two weeks for health and safety issues, according to Guttner. Then he will be brought to his habitat on campus and be formally named Mike VI.
“Right now … the next step is to figure out transportation,” Guttner said. “[Once] he’s gone through that quarantine … we will have a formal thing, he’ll be let out into the enclosure, and it’ll actually be ‘now we have a Mike VI.'”
The University began its search soon after Mike V died of kidney failure on May 18. Mike V was 17 years old.
According to University officials, Mike V began his reign in 1990 after he was donated by Dr. Thomas and Caroline Atchison of the Animal Zoological Park in Moulton, Ala. He attended his first game in Feb. 1990 at an LSU-Alabama basketball game and was moved into his home, north of Tiger Stadium, on April 30, 1990.
In 2001, Mike V’s habitat became the center of a $2.9 million fund-raising campaign. Work began on the project in Nov. 2004, and the new habitat was completed in time for the 2005 football season.
—Contact Sarah Yokubaitis and Nicholas Persac at [email protected]