You’ve been to a birthday party for a person. How about for a tiger? Bakso is a Sumatran tiger. He lives at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. That’s in Florida. Bakso turned 1 on September 26. The park staff threw him a party.

Bakso is a tiger at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
OLGA THOMPSON
Bakso is named for an Indonesian meatball. His species is found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The cats are critically endangered. They face a high risk of going extinct. But at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, tigers are well cared-for.
Caring for Tigers
Bakso is the first tiger born at the Animal Kingdom in seven years. Erin Heavey is on his care team. She’s an animal keeper. Heavey helps keep Bakso and the park’s other tigers safe. “Bakso is still young,” Heavey told TFK. So she uses positive reinforcement to train him.

His care team, including Erin Heavey, helped him celebrate his first birthday in September.
WALT DISNEY WORLD
Bakso loves to play. Heavey says he enjoys trying out new toys. For his birthday celebration, Heavey wrapped toys in paper for Bakso to open. At the party, he also got some of his favorite treats, such as goat’s milk.








