BATON ROUGE - Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry discussed the reasoning for bringing a tiger to the LSU-Alabama game on Fox News Friday.

WBRZ previously reported that a Bengal tiger named Omar Bradley was on its way to Baton Rouge on Thursday for an appearance at this weekend's LSU-Alabama game. 

"This is about tradition," Landry said. "This is about from Mike I through [Mike] VI, we have had a live mascot on the field like many other colleges have before. And of course, we're honoring those Mikes and no one is going to take away the honor and respect and love we have for Mike VII."

"Our hope is that maybe we can get this tiger to roar a couple of times and that'll indicate how many touchdowns we'll have, and it'll be more than Alabama," Landry said.

Louisiana Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham also gave a statement to the network.

"We had numerous discussions and took every step to ensure this was safe for the tiger," Abraham said. "I spent hours with the tiger last night and you could tell he was comfortable around people and enjoyed the attention. He's in great health, well cared for by his owners and socially acclimated. As both a veterinarian and medical doctor, I couldn't think of a better day to literally and figuratively be a tiger."

The idea of bringing the tiger has received backlash from animal rights organizations. 
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says tigers, even while caged, are not creatures that should be in an environment with so many people. 

"Tigers are naturally shy and solitary animals and they shun human contact, so of course the idea of putting an animal with that kind of biology into this football stadium with tens of thousands of screaming fans, it's terrifying for them," PETA's Klayton Rutherford said.

PETA has serious concerns about Mitchel Kalmanson, the owner of the tiger, who was previously a circus exhibitor. PETA provided WBRZ with a list of over 40 citations he received from the USDA.

"He's had multiple tigers escape from his performances and he is endangering animals and the public by bringing this tiger to LSU this weekend," Rutherford said. 

One of the citations occurred in 2004 while Kalmanson was traveling with the UniverSoul circus. A trainer left the gate to a holding cage open, and one of Kalmanson's tigers got loose and attacked an elephant on the hip.

Another instance of a citation issued to Kalmanson was in 2014. He left a gate in a perimeter fence open and unattended several times, allowing people to approach and touch the tigers. The fence surrounding the tigers was only four feet tall.

In regards to a statement by the state Surgeon General, PETA disagreed with Abraham's claim of the tiger being comfortable, saying they're sure he hasn't been around tens of thousands of people at one time. 

"Especially for a tiger who has had no exposure to this. Kalmanson hasn't performed in several years and the tiger he's bringing, Omar Bradley, is only a year and a half old, so we know he has not been exposed to anything like this before."