University of Memphis Urged To Stop Using Live Tiger Mascots
Thousands of people are supporting a new petition against the University’s use of live tigers during football matches.
Credit: In Defense of Animals
Animal rights campaigners have started a petition urging the University of Memphis to stop subjecting tigers to a “stressful and cruel” life as a football mascot.
Campaign group In Defense of Animals (IDA) argues that tigers are sensitive to their surroundings, and during football matches, they are exposed to a frightening environment with loud noises and large crowds of people, as well as having to pose for photos.
In continuing to use a live mascot, the University “sends a harmful message and teaches fans that wild animals belong in cages, rather than in their native habitats, and that they exist for our entertainment", says Lisa Levinson, a spokesperson for IDA.
The University has used live Bengal tigers as mascots for nearly five decades. Each time the tiger is named TOM (Tigers of Memphis), and is replaced once they die. This is the third tiger used by the University.
TOM III is transported in a trailer to each home match, where he sits caged on the sidelines.
"It’s time to leave TOM III at home, instead of carting him around to attend games", Levinson adds.
Nearly 10,000 people have already signed the petition to release TOM III, and it is hoped that the University will use its human mascot, Pouncer, instead of TOM III.
This new campaign is just the latest to highlight the cruel tradition of live animal mascots at American universities. In particular, concerns of human safety in using animals at heightened, unnatural settings such as sports stadiums, were brought to the fore last year, following a number of incidents.
Notably, at the pregame mascot meeting in January, between Texas Longhorns and Georgia Dawgs, Bevo the longhorn steer escaped from its pen and charged at Uga the bulldog. In November, the University of Colorado decided to retire its buffalo mascot, Ralphie V, citing fears over her temperament.
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