Birthday of tiger cubs celebrated in Panna reserve

PTI | 10:04 PM,Apr 16,2012 Panna(MP), Apr 16(PTI)Panna Tiger Reserve celebrated the birthday of four tiger cubs today who were born here two years ago after successfully translocating a tiger and few tigresses from different reserves. A tigress gave birth to four cubs on April 16, 2010 after successful translocation of a tiger and few tigresses from other reserves, an official release said. Since then, their birthday has been celebrated by the reserve management every year on April 16. A male tiger and four tigresses were already translocated to the Panna reserve while one more tiger will be shifted after some time, it said. Of the four tigresses, two are wild while the remaining two are reared in semi-wild conditions. Out of these four tigresses, three successfully gave birth to tiger cubs four times. A total of 14 cubs were born so far in the reserve out of which two died in September 2010, the release said. One of the cubs was recently deserted by the tigress identified as T-1 following which the animal was being kept under the close watch of forest officials in captivity. Remaining cubs are learning the art of hunting with their mothers in wild areas of the reserve. An experiment was also successfully carried out to make two tigresses wild from semi-wild conditions. These two tigresses were identified as T-4 and T-5 and T-4 recently gave birth to two cubs, the release added.