BHUBANESWAR : Forest officials on Saturday said tigress Zeenat and her four cubs are healthy and have begun moving within the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR).
The STR management also released a photo of the Tadoba tigress with her cubs in the wild, captured in camera trap. Similipal field director Prakash Chand Gogineni said,
“At less than two months old, the cubs have started moving with their mother. A dedicated team of nine officials are tracking Zeenat’s movement closely. They are working in a rotation.”
The tigress is being monitored through satellite collar and VHF tracking signals, while STR authorities have also installed camera traps within a fixed radius to keep an eye on the big cat and her cubs.
Gogineni said the wildlife wing will soon write to NTCA about the success story of Zeenat and seek its feedback to take forward the ongoing tiger supplementation project in Similipal.
The four-year-old tigress translocated from Maharashtra’s Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) two years back, has delivered four cubs, giving Odisha a rare conservation milestone and Similipal Tiger Reserve a fresh genetic impetus.