For my birthday present my sister and her boyfriend gave me a tiger encounter. They knew we planned to visit Western Plains Zoo as part of our road trip to Orange, Dubbo and Mudgee. My sister has vague memories of the tiger photograph I had hanging on my bedroom wall for most of my childhood. I did, and still do have a bit of an obsession with big cats.

I was completely ecstatic when Lissy gave me the animal encounter gift voucher. When the day came for me to meet the tigers I skipped to the zoo like a little school girl.

We got to feed Inda, a 4 ½  year old Samatran tiger who was hand raised. When she took the first piece of chicken out of some tongs I was perplexed by how gentle she was. Then later the keeper hand fed her.

As I fed Inda she stood on her back legs. All I wanted to do was rub her tummy, and touch her beautiful, big black paws. I sensed that she would probably let me do just that and purr at me.

To be so close to such an amazing animal is humbling and has left me with an indescribable feeling.

Tigers in the Woods

During the tiger encounter we learnt lots about big cats. What threatens them in the wild, and how zoo conservation programs work. We also met Satu, a 4 ½  year old Samatran male who is set to breed with Inda in the next few months. He was considerably larger than Inda. Watching him leap up a pole and rip off a bag that contained chicken was very impressive. It was nice to see that this captive creature was being given mental stimulation.

If you are planning a trip to Taronga Wester Plains Zoo I highly recommend going slowly and spending time really observing these majestic creatures.

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