Mike The Tiger

I've mentioned in previous post about LSU's mascot, Mike the Tiger  & had several people ask me about this.  Yes, LSU has a LIVE Bengal Tiger. The current tiger is the 6th one LSU has had. The previous ones have lived anywhere from 17-20 yrs. Mike VI will be 6 yrs old this year. The last weight that I heard was 460 lbs. but he should grow to be around 600 lbs. LSU always had a small cage (2000 sq. ft.) that housed Mike. Several years ago it was determined that this wasn't sufficient. A fundraising campaign began & a $3 million habitat was built. YES, you read that right, 3 MILLION dollars!! The new habitat is in the same location as the old one but it's 13,000 sq. ft. I've yet to understand why a tiger needs a better home that the majority of humans in the world but whatever.

I've been out to see Mike tons of times & he's always asleep. Laziest tiger ever apparently. Sunday afternoon I brought my nephew, Logan out to see him. Logan LOVES to be outside & he loves animals. Mike was asleep. Of course. Luckily, he was sleeping out in the open so we could at least see him. Logan's reaction when he saw him was to point & say "WOOOW". It was hilarious. I can only imagine how mesmerized he would've been if Mike was walking around or playing in his pool. People say he does those things & there are pictures to prove it. Maybe one day.

I still took some pictures.

Logan was checking out Mike.

He was also checking out all the kids that were around!

How can he sleep with all of those people looking at him??

Mike's Habitat & his swimming pool. Logan was eyeing Mike's ball. He loves balls!

Logan was in the process of "giving up" his pacifier & for some odd reason there was one in the water. Thankfully, he didn't see it or hear the little boy screaming that there was a nunnie in the water!! Crisis averted.

Another shot of his habitat.

Being that all you saw was his back here's a shot I got from mikethetiger.com. He's really pretty.

You know, I said that I've never seen him awake. That's not entirely true. Before all the home football games Mike is loaded into a trailer & he's paraded around the stadium with the cheerleaders on top of the trailer. He roars, the crowd goes crazy. So, I've just never seen him awake in his habitat. Apparently, he's really spoiled too. There have been several football games that he didn't make because "he didn't want to get in his trailer" says his Vet. Hmmm, he didn't want to? WTH??? Throw a steak in there & move it buddy! After all, riding around Tiger Stadium is his ONLY job!

I'm linking to Outdoor Wednesday.

Toodles!