By Ken Reed
Not all college students use football games as an excuse to party and paint their faces.
Student conservation groups at Clemson University (Clemson Tigers for Tigers) and the University of Alabama (Tide for Tusks) will be part of a joint social media campaign during the national college football championship game Monday featuring Clemson and Alabama. The campaign is designed to show solidarity for their schools’ endangered mascots in the wild by using the hashtag #ProtectOurMascots. Clemson’s mascot is a tiger and Alabama’s is an elephant.
The campaign, organized by the National Tigers for Tigers Coalition, hopes to highlight the fact that only 3200 wild tigers remain today and 96 elephants are poached on a daily basis.
The campaign’s theme is: “On the field we are rivals. In the wild we are partners.”
The National Tigers for Tigers Coalition harnesses school spirit and pride at tiger mascot colleges to empower students and fans to support international tiger conservation efforts.
Tide For Tusks is a University of Alabama student-led initiative to raise awareness for poaching of African elephants and promotes a deeper understanding of the trafficking of endangered wildlife. Clemson Tigers for Tigers was established in 1997 by concerned students who wished to protect the school’s tiger mascot from extinction in the wild through education, research, and service learning.
The collective is encouraging students and fans to use the power of their voices to support their university’s wild mascots by using the #ProtectOurMascots during the game.
For more information about the National Tigers for Tigers Coalition and this campaign, visit tigersfortigers.org.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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