Four tiger cubs, who were rescued after being separated from their mother in Karnataka’s Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, died within three days after contracting a virus, officials said.
The cubs, aged between four and five months, were rescued from Hunsur taluk in Mysuru district on November 30 and reunited with their mother on December 2. The tigress, who is estimated to be 10-12 years old, had herself been rescued from Gowdanakatte village in the same taluk on November 27.
The cubs were kept under observation at the Chamundi Wildlife Conservation Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Koorgalli in Mysuru.
According to forest department officials, one cub died on December 6, another on December 7, and two others on December 9. The officials suspect that the cubs contracted the feline panleukopenia virus after separating from their mother.
After the cubs were rescued, one of them developed a fever and was separated from the others. However, by the time doctors determined the cause of its death, the remaining cubs had already fallen ill.
The mother tigress is stable and is under observation, forest officials said, adding that the viscera samples of the cubs have been sent to a Bengaluru laboratory.