Two years wait over as tiger cubs’ spotted in Sariska
› The cubs were seen in camera traps on April 6. On Saturday morning, forest tracker and other department employees saw the tigress with the litter.
GS BHARDWAJ , chief conservator of forest, Sariska
ALWAR : More than a month after Sariska tiger, ST-11, died after it got entangled in a snare in an agricultural field, his cubs were spotted in the tiger reserve, 210km from Delhi, on Saturday morning.
The cubs were earlier spotted in camera trap on April 6 with their mother, ST-14. This is the first litter of the four-year-old tigress.
Cubs have been born in Sariska after more than two years. Earlier, tigress ST-9 gave birth to ST-15 in 2016. The cub was caught on camera trap in May 2016 when it was five months old.
“A forest tracker spotted the tigress with her two cubs on Saturday morning. He was there for 20 minutes for confirmation. Later, he shared the news with us,” said STR deputy conservator of forest Balaji Kari. He added that tiger ST-11 was with ST-14 for more than six months before his death. “These cubs have been sired by him,” he said.
Sariska’s chief conservator of forest GS Bhardwaj said the cubs were seen in camera traps on April 6. “On Saturday morning, forest tracker and other department employees saw the tigress with the litter. We have beefed up security in the Sadar Range forest area where the newborns are with their mother,” he said.
The cubs are between two and two-and-a-half months old, Bhardwaj added. They are the third generation of tigress ST-2, which was relocated from Ranthambore tiger reserve in 2008. The cubs have taken the number of tigers in Sariska to 14. The reserve lost two stripped cats recently.
ST-11 died and ST-5 has been missing since February. The forest officials have assumed it dead.
The reserve lost all its tigers in 2005 and was repopulated with tigers from Ranthambore. Eight big cats were relocated between 2008 and 2012.
In 2012, the relocated tigress ST-2 gave birth to two cubs – ST-7 and ST-8. The tigress gave a litter of two cubs in 2014 again – ST-13 and ST-14. In 2016, tigress ST-9 gave birth to ST-15. The Sariska administration is expecting cubs from ST-10 and ST-2 soon. ST-11 was the second tiger to have died after repopulation of Sariska. In 2010, ST-1, the first tiger relocated from Ranthambore died after villagers poisoned it.