Attempt to reunite 4 tiger cubs with mother fails in Andhra forest

Amaravati, March  (IANS) Attempts by Andhra Pradesh forest officials to reunite four tiger cubs with their mother in Atmakur forests have proved futile.

The forest personnel took the cubs to the spot where a shepherd had reported sighting of the big cat on Wednesday night. They waited till early Thursday but the mother tigress did not turn up.

The cubs, which were found abandoned near a village five days ago, were brought back to the forest guest house at Nallamala Jungle Camp Bairluty where they remained under the care of a team of veterinarians.

The forest officials had found pugmarks of a tigress on Wednesday morning at around 1.5 km from the site where the cubs were found by villagers. A shepherd had also reported direct sighting of a big cat near the village on Wednesday evening. This had raised hopes of reuniting the cubs with their mother.

An expert committee comprising officials from National Tiger Conservation Authority, Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) and the state forest department will now decide the next move.

The officials said if the efforts to reunite the cubs with mother tigress yield no result, they will consider shifting the cubs to SV Zoological Park Tirupati to protect them.

Meanwhile, officials monitoring the rescue and rehabilitation process of tigress and four cubs said that all cubs are healthy, active and normal. The forest department released a video of cubs playing with each other in a room.

The cubs, believed to be a month old, were fed minced chicken liver, milk and water.

Veterinarians from SV Zoological Park, Tirupati were closely monitoring their condition by checking their vitals.

Forest officials had attempted to leave the cubs in the forest on Monday night but with no trace of their mother in the vicinity, they dropped the plan and brought them back to the guest house.

As part of their efforts to locate mother tigress, the forest officials have installed camera traps.

Villagers found the cubs abandoned on the outskirts of Pedda Gummadapuram villagers in Kothapalli mandal (block) in Nandyal district on Sunday. After waiting for a while to see if their mother turns up, the villagers shifted the cubs to a room in a farm to protect them from predators and informed the forest officials.

The forest officials believe that the mother tigress may have lost her way after getting cubs near the village.