The tiger cub that was rescued by the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) authorities from a tea estate near Valparai in September has been shifted to a larger cage.
Officials said that the cub was shifted to a cage three times bigger than the one in which it was kept after being rescued from a tea estate at Thaimudi.
ATR Field Director S. Ramasubramanian said that the new cage was 20 feet long. This was to aid free movement of the nine-month-old cub.
“The cub is healthy. It was shifted to the large cage as works of setting up the proposed enclosure in the forest are under way,” he said.
The enclosure of 10,000 sq ft is coming up in a dense forest area in Manambolly range. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Shekhar Kumar Niraj had visited the place in October and given directions to ATR administration on executing the re-wilding of the tiger, touted to be the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu. The cub is currently kept in the Department’s rest house at Manambolly. Very limited number of people including caretakers and veterinarians are allowed to go close to the cage so that the cub does not get accustomed to human beings. Its diet mainly consisted of meat, said officials.
The cub was rescued by the ATR administration after it was found stranded and injured in a tea estate at Thaimudi on September 28.
