Tiger returns to CT to celebrate the "Zoo Year"

(WTNH) - Connecticut's Beardsely Zoo in Bridgeport is welcoming new and old animals including the return of Viktor, an Amur Siberian Tiger, that's home for the holidays.

The zoo is inviting visitors to help welcome him back and celebrate "Happy Zoo Year" with half price admission from December 26-30.

Viktor was one of three cubs born in 2004 at Connecticut's only Zoo and was transferred to the Detroit Zoo in 2008. He will be ready to greet his East Coast fans after Christmas.

"We are thrilled to have Viktor back home and just in time for the holidays," Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo Director Gregg Dancho said. "The song says, 'Baby, it's cold out there' but with the beautiful weather we're having and a mild winter forecast, there's no better time to come out and meet the newest additions to our Zoo family."

Amur tigers range from nine to 12 feet long and grow to be 400-500 pounds. These big cats may be found in a variety of habitats including grasslands and evergreen forests, and their diet consists mostly of deer, wild boar, elk, lynx, bear, fish, hares, and birds. Their long fur coat, about one to three inches long, protects them in temperatures to 50 degrees below zero. The Zoo hopes Viktor will successfully mate with Naka, their female Amur tiger.

Also new to the Zoo this winter are two Maned wolves. The two female wolves are sisters, born last spring in North Carolina. The Maned wolves have access to a heated enclosure, as they are not fans of Connecticut's cold winters. Often mistaken for foxes, the Maned wolf ranges from four to four and a half feet in length, weighing in around 44-50 pounds. They like to eat rodents and other small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and will go for the occasional fruit and vegetables at times.

The transfer of the tiger and the wolves is coordinated through the Assocation of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan Program. Animals are regularly transferred between AZA accredited zoos in order to help manage specific, and typically threatened or endangered, species populations.