Visitors to the captive tiger safari at Mumbai`s Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) have a reason to celebrate. Tigress Srivalli has given birth to five cubs in captivity on Thursday, a day that also marks Gandhi Jayanti.
Sources from SGNP told midday.com that they are keeping a close watch on the tigress and the five cubs.
Last year on May 17, Tigress Srivalli had delivered four cubs in the captivity at SGNP.
It is said that the tigress had mated with male tiger Bajirao a few months ago.
Srivalli had delivered four cubs in captivity at SGNP in March 2023, too, but only one had survived.
Srivalli, also known as T24-C2, was born inside Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve and later encouraged to establish her own territory in its Moharli Range near Maharashtra’s Chandrapur, during which she used to hunt cattle. In February 2022, a few human-animal conflict incidents were reported in the area, in which two people were purportedly killed by the tigress.
The tigress was rescued from Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) and brought to SGNP in March 2022.
Meanwhile, Bajirao had killed eight people in a span of 21 months at Rajura in Chandrapur. After this, he was captured by the Rajura Forest Department in Chandrapur Circle in 2020 and sent to SGNP.
Srivalli had mated with Bajirao, aged around nine years.
The captive tiger and lion safari at SGNP was started in the 1990s and has been one of its most important tourist attractions.
