India: Four tiger cubs in Andhra Vet hospital, search on for mother

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Forest Department officials on Tuesday continued their efforts to trace the mother of four tiger cubs found near a village in Nandyal district on Sunday.

The month-old cubs have been kept at a veterinary hospital at Nallamalla Jungle Camp Bairluty where wildlife veterinarians are monitoring their health while forest officials continued their efforts for a second day to trace the mother.

The cubs are said to be doing well. Veterinarians from the S.V. Zoological Park, Tirupati were closely monitoring their condition by checking their vitals. The cubs were being fed with milk and water.

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

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). 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.

Divisional forest officer Alan Chong Teron and other officials reached the village and took custody of the cubs, who appeared weak.

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

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