(WXYZ) — A group of Detroit Tigers players met the newest tiger at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom.
Colt Keith, Matt Vierling, Tyler Holton, Will Vest, and Zach McKinstry, along with their families, took a break from spring training to visit the park and spend time with Bakso, a critically endangered Sumatran tiger cub.
“I think it’s kind of cool to have the kids out to see this. For my son, anytime that he sees a tiger — he’s always like, Daddy’s team! So he’s starting to kind of connect the dots there. It was cool to be up-close and see the baby cub walking around,” Tigers pitcher Will Vest said to Disney Parks Blog.
Bakso is now six months old, and Disney says he "serves as an ambassador for his declining species" with less than 600 Sumatran tigers left in the wild.
“I’ve been here before and I have seen the tigers, but not a cub. So that was really special,” Tiger pitcher Tyler Holton told Disney Parks Blog. “Seeing the little guy — being a Tiger, seeing a tiger, it definitely is an interesting perspective. Obviously, everyone has their nicknames, but to be here at Disney and see the real-life tiger is cool!”
The Tigers open their regular season in Los Angeles on March 27 against the defending World Series champion Dodgers.
