Dr. Douglas Brackenridge

Dr. Douglas Brackenridge has been associated with Trinity University for over 40 years. He retired in May of 200, but is still a member of the Trinity Joggers club, and works in the Special Collections in the Trinity University library. He received his P.H.D. in Religion from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He has five children, two of which are Trinity University graduates. 

When interviewing Dr. Douglas Brackenridge, it was apparent that he believed it was in the best interest that Trinity University not have a live mascot at the football games, for he described the tiger as tired, sad, and irritated. He felt sorry for Lee Roy, as he "suggested" that there may have been some poor treatment of the tiger. What's interesting is that he's not alone, as he hinted at the fact that many students and faculty noticed that Lee Roy was "perhaps" sedated. 

Dr. Brackenridge was very adamant in that he didn't want to cause any trouble with the San Antonio Zoo, and that he had no concrete evidence. He was basing his beliefs solely on conversations he had with other people, as he wasn't the only one who noticed Lee Roy's off-behavior. Therefore, Dr. Brackenridge was only speculating, for there's no hard evidence that suggests Lee Roy was sedated or mistreated. He believed that Lee Roy could've been irritated because he was confined in a cage, and not in his "natural" habitat.

Two very intriguing facts I learned from the interview were that his son went to high school with Mr. Pletz's son, and told me about a theory in which Trinity copied LSU's tiger/mascot idea.

Again, I want to reiterate that his opinions and stances are all circumstantial, and that he was only relaying information that he heard from other Trinity students, alumni, and other people in regards to the possible treatment of Lee Roy and the theory behind how Trinity University came up with the idea for a tiger as a mascot.

Author: Kevin Grube, pledge