Foresters continue monitoring surviving tiger cubs

Mysuru: Foresters monitoring the survival of two orphaned tiger cubs near the Antharasanthe range of the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve have intensified their drive to find the cubs that haven’t been captured in camera traps for the last few days.
Forest officials, however, claim the cubs are alive as pug marks are visible and even carcasses of prey are found in the region. After the death of the mother tiger in the second week of November, a week after the incident of being caught in a snare, authorities have been keeping an eye on the cubs.
One cub had died a week ago, while the other two survived all alone. They are just under one year of age.
A team of forest officials has been camping in the region to protect the big cats as they were outside the forest region. The mother cat had died some 260 meters away from the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve.
Officials have also issued alerts to people living in the villages nearby to take caution while moving around.
Nagarahole director Harshakumar Chikkanaragund said after the death of the mother cat, the cubs are being monitored continuously for the last three weeks. Camera traps have been installed and personnel are deployed to keep track of the cubs that are around 11 months old. Confirming that cats have not been traced in camera traps for the last few days, the IFS officer explained there have been indirect sightings through pug marks and prey kill in the region. The cubs are healthy and active, he said.
According to sources, the foresters had recently conducted a drive to locate the cubs and drive them into the forest using captive elephants as the cubs were camping outside the forest area close to human habitat. Its mother was found dead after being caught in a snare, supposedly laid to catch boars, in private land on the fringes of a tiger reserve. Till now about 15 tigers have died in Karnataka.