Two tiger cubs that got injured after stones were pelted at them by villagers in Madhya Pradesh' Seoni district have been rescued by forest officials and shifted to a veterinary hospital in the Kanha Tiger Reserve.
The four to six month old cubs were found in a weak and starving condition with injuries on their bodies due to stone pelting. They were rescued by the forest officials after a video surfaced on social media showing people pelting stones at them.
"Two tiger cubs rescued from Seoni district have been brought to Kanha Tiger rehabilitation centre. Currently, they are under veterinary doctors' supervision. They have separated from their mother. Search for their mother is going on," said an official in Kanha Tiger Reserve.
After being rescued, they were given proper food and medicines and will remain under observation for about a fortnight. One of the cubs had suffered injuries in its right hind leg, Kanha Tiger Reserve veterinarian Dr Sandeep Agrawal said.
"The cubs will be kept in an enclosure at the wildlife hospital in Mukki range till they become normal and will then be shifted to a rewilding centre at Ghorela to learn how to survive in deep forests," he added.
A video of the incident showed one of the tiger cubs limping and some people pelting it with stones and chasing the cub.
According to the All-India Tiger Estimation Report 2018, Madhya Pradesh was home to 526 tigers, the highest in any state of the country. The state has a number of tiger reserves, including Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Satpura and Panna.
Madhya Pradesh has lost over 15 tigers in the last four months in different wildlife habitats of the state.
