Mumbai: 4 tiger cubs born in Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali

Four tiger cubs were born at Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) after a gap of 13 years, taking the total tiger count in the park to 10. The cubs were born on Saturday afternoon to Srivalli, a four-year-old tigress who was rescued from Chandrapur district and brought to SGNP last year.

Mother and cubs are healthy
According to forest officials, the tiger cubs were born on Saturday afternoon between 12 pm and 3.30 pm and at present, the priority is to ensure that the cubs survive. Officials said that Srivalli and her cubs are healthy and she has been nursing them.

The four-year-old tigress Srivalli was rescued from Tadoba in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district and brought to SGNP last year, she mated with Bajirao, a nine-year-old tiger who was also rescued from Chandrapur and brought to SGNP in 2020.

The officials said that identifying the gender of the cubs has not been possible yet as the cubs were born naturally and no human intervention took place. “As of now, Srivalli and her cubs are in a private enclosure and we are monitoring their situation through CCTV cameras. Since this is the first time the tigress has given birth, we do not want to confuse or scare her through our intervention,” the official said.

Both parents brought to SGNP after being captured for Killing humans
Both the tiger parents are conflict animals (animals with human-wildlife conflict leading to negative results) and were brought to SGNP after they were captured for attacking and killing humans. Srivalli was rescued from the Moharli range of Tadoba Tiger Reserve after she killed a person in 2022. While Bajirao was brought to SGNP after he was captured by forest officials in Chandrapur in 2020 where he killed eight people in a span of 21 months.