Wildlife lovers are elated over the reported increase in the number of big cats in the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan's Alwar district where tigers had once vanished. Sariska represents a tiger habitat spread over 1213.34 sq. km of Aravalli hills, the world's oldest mountain ranges. The arrival of two new cubs to Sariska was confirmed through a camera trap a couple of days back following which the authorities said the count of big cats has increased from earlier 25 to 27. "Sariska now has a total of 27 big cats. It includes 13 females, 8 males, and six cubs," Roop Narayan Meena, Field Director Sariska, told PTI. ?

He said two newborn cubs aged around two months have been observed in a camera trap on Monday. They were born in the movement area of tigress ST-14 in the Dabli Sukola forest area under the Akbarpur range of Sariska Tiger Reserve. "Prima facie the movement of the tigress ST-14 and both the newborn cubs have been found to be normal," he said. Meena said instructions have been issued to the officials and the concerned tiger monitoring team to closely observe the movements of the tigress and its cubs. ?The official said the complete shifting of Dabli village and half of Sukola village in the last two years created an inviolate environment, leading to the tigress giving birth in the same area. ?

In 2020, she gave birth to three cubs in the same area. Founder secretary of Sariska Tiger Foundation Dinesh Verma Durrani said the growing population of big cats in Sariska is a matter of immense pleasure. "This is good news for all wildlife lovers. The main issue in Sariska is the shifting of villages. The villages should be shifted so that the big cats can get more space to increase their population," he said. In the last two and a half years, four villages have been shifted from Sariska and 23 more are due to be shifted.

Sariska lost all its tigers in 2005. To revive the population of the big cats in the reserve, the tiger relocation program was introduced in 2008 with the translocation of two big cats from Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur district. Apart from tigers, Sariska has a large population of leopards. Sariska is also home to several herbivores including Sambar, Chital, Nilgai, Wild boar, Porcupines, and Langurs.