The cubs are quite healthy and aged about three to four months
Four healthy tiger cubs were rescued by villagers in the Nandyal district of Andhra Pradesh on Monday. According to a PTI report, the villagers found the cubs in an agricultural field on the village's outskirts and secured them in a storeroom in the village. The forest department officials took them into their custody after receiving the information.
Sharing the video, a Twitter user wrote, ''Four #tigercubs were spotted near PeddaGummadapuram village, #Atmakur forest in #Nandyal. These cubs were rescued by the villagers, kept in a room, and #forestdepartment was informed. Hope they get reunited.''
Watch the video here:
The animal trackers managed to quickly go to the spot on discovering the cubs and cordoned off the area. The cubs are quite healthy and aged about three to four months, according to officials.
Meanwhile, a forest official said arrangements were made to reunite the tiger cubs with their mother. The officials are now trying to reach out to the tigress in the next 24 or 48 hours and have laid a good number of camera traps.
"The tigress is roaming within a radius of 2 km around the area coming under Kothapalli Mandal in Nandyala district," a forest official told PTI.
"How the cubs reached there is still a bit of an enigma for us. I think the tigress could have been chased by a pack of wild dogs. In a hurry it could have left the cubs," Shanti Priya Pandey, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife (APCCF, WL) said.
He added that the forest officials are taking precautions to ensure that they don't leave a human imprint on the quartet, erasing the original wild imprint as the mother may sometimes reject. According to the officer, the chances of survival are better for the cubs if they successfully return to the wild than staying in non-wilderness settings.