Missing cubs of Adegaon tigress found after 3 weeks

Chandrapur: Gowarjhari lake region in Chandrapur (buffer) range has become a centre of intense vigil and monitoring since the last couple of days. Tadoba buffer management by fluke have found the two missing cubs of Adegaon Khuti tigress near the lake after three weeks. The fact that the one-year-old cubs are surviving on their own without their mother for three weeks makes them a special case of study.
The Adgaon Khuti tigress of Moharli (buffer) zone have three cubs aged around one year. The tigress and its cubs are often seen by tourists on Adegaon tourist circuit. Two of them had suddenly went missing three weeks ago, putting entire buffer zone staff of TATR on its toes. The tigress was seen with only one cub, while there was no trace of the other two. Intense search operation in Moharli (buffer) range had proved fruitless as staffers and forest labourers failed to trace the cubs for three weeks.
“The missing cubs were discovered near Gowarjhari lake in adjacent Chandrapur (buffer) zone by the labourers working at the lake. They reported the matter to local staffers, who soon identified them as the missing cubs of Adegaon tigress. However it remains mystery how they reached Gowarjhari lake, six kilometre away from their habitat, and how they survived for three weeks without out their mother, which is still in Adegaon Khuti area with the third one,” said deputy director, TATR (buffer) Gajendra Narwane.
Narwane told TOI that it is a queer case and needs to be studied through intense monitoring. He claimed the survival of one-year-old cubs is entirely dependent on mother tigress for they lack hunting skills. It is therefore necessary to understand how these two cubs strayed six kilometres away from their habitat. “The possibility of mother itself keeping the two cubs away at separate place is also not ruled out. There have been past instances of mother tigress keeping its cubs at separate locations. However, it is yet to be established in this case whether Adegaon Khuti tigress is visiting these two cubs at Gowarjhari lake,” he explained.
Narwane however mentioned a previous incident when all three cubs of Adegaon Kuti tigress had gone missing for a week couple of months back. After a week long disappearance, mother tigress was found with all the three cubs near Gowardjari lake.
Narwane informed that they have increased vigil in the area for safety of the two cubs. Half a dozen camera traps have been laid to monitor the movement of the two cubs. “WII is carrying out phase-IV tiger monitoring and has borrowed most of our camera traps. We are going get some of them back to intensify our monitoring of these cubs,” he said.