Tiger population at the Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) in Rajasthan, which hit the national headlines a decade ago for wrong reasons after the big cats went missing, has shown an improvement.

P.S. Somashekar, Inspector-General of Forests, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Regional Office, Bengaluru, who earlier served as the Field Director of STR, said in Mysuru on Tuesday that the tiger population was being re-established at Sariska following the birth of cubs four years after the big cats were re-introduced at the reserve.

Two female tigers, which were among the eight wild tigers re-introduced at Sariska Tiger Reserve since 2008, have successfully bred and the camera traps installed there had confirmed the presence of tiger cubs.

A tigress re-introduced on July 4, 2008 had given birth to two cubs in 2012 while another one delivered two cubs in 2014, according to Mr. Somashekar.

Mr. Somashekar, an IFS officer of Rajasthan cadre, narrated the story behind the re-introduction of wild tigers at Sariska at Conservation Speaks, a lecture series at the Mysore zoo on Tuesday.

The disappearance of Sariska tigers snowballed into a major issue, resulting in the intervention of the then Prime Minister. The case of “tigers going missing” was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which probed the case for four years. “It was concluded that tigers disappeared due to poaching,” Mr Somashekar said.

Describing the reintroduction of wild tigers in Sariska from Ranathambore Tiger Reserve (RTR) was a biggest challenge in the history of tiger conservation, Mr. Somashekar said the tigers were successfully re-introduced at Sariska without any previous experience of such an effort. “There were examples of re-introduction of Puma in Florida, U.S., and Wild African Dog in Africa in the 1990s.”

Scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India, the NTCA and tiger experts played a key role in making it happen despite resistance over the Forest Department’s move. The re-introduction was planned scientifically adopting a clear-cut methodology, he said.

Mr. Somashekar said a decision was taken to bring Ranathambore tigers to Sariska as both the reserves had same ecological conditions. The special cages carrying tigers were airlifted using IAF helicopters to reduce sedation effect and stress to tigers.