Sestra's Story
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Sestra- born on November 24th, 2007. Her name means 'sister' in Russian, and sister she is indeed to her brothers. As a young cub she was always called 'bouncy-trounsy' just like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, because when she got extremely excited she could never keep all her paws underneath herself while hopping around! That's a habit she hasn't yet outgrown, and shows no interest in stopping even as a full grown adult.
While she was an exceptional tiger growing up, Sestra had the same selective hearing that seems to be common with some tigers, especially Siberian Tigers. Sometimes it was a wonderful attribute. As a cub, her favorite thing was going on walks on her leash, and she was able to ignore all the noises around her that sometimes scared the other cubs. But at other times she would just love to ignore anything being said that meant 'walk time is over.' Our zoo director Debbie was the one who realized that she could coax Sestra back into her enclosure (sometimes just before the guests arrived) by complimenting her and saying "You are the most important tiger in the entire world at this very moment!" That's all she needed to hear and appreciates it being repeated each and every day. |