Cairns’ tiger cub named Indah

Cairns’ tiger cub named Indah

Saturday, December 26, 2009
The Cairns Post

SHE no longer goes by Stripes or Brat, with North Queensland’s first locally born tiger cub officially named after more than 500 entries from the public.

Say hello to Indah – Malaysian for beautiful.

Pictures: Tiger cub at Cairns Wildlife Safari Reserve

The cub was born on December 13 at Cairns Wildlife Safari Reserve at Koah with The Cairns Post inviting readers to make name suggestions online at cairns.com.au.

Entries closed on Wednesday with 391 suggestions posted online and a further 120 given to the reserve.

James Cook University medical student Laura Vallerine, 22, and logistics officer Robin Piccolo both put forth the name which was officially given to the cub yesterday.

Mrs Piccolo of Trinity Beach said she picked the name after living in Indonesia for nine months about 14 years ago.

“While I was over there it was just a word I fell in love with,” she said.

Ms Vallerine said the name was perfect because it described the cub’s beauty in a language relative to the cub’s culture.

“I wanted to pick a name to describe how really cute she is and that related to her culture,” she said.

Both women will be invited to the reserve to be the first members of the public to touch Indah in about a month’s time.

The cub will be on display early next month but won’t be able to be touched by visitors until late January.