New Delhi, Jul 10 (IANS): On the day when two tiger cubs were spotted in Rajasthan’s Sariska Tiger Reserve, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday said that 15 years ago, the tiger population in the reserve had been reduced to zero, but the relocation of the big cats from Ranthambore and elsewhere to that reserve proved to be a “remarkable success story that started much before 2014.”

Tagging the report, Ramesh, party’s general secretary communication in-charge in a tweet said: “Just 15 years ago the tiger population in the sprawling Sariska Tiger Reserve had been completely wiped out. It had reduced to precisely zero. Relocation was then considered to revive Sariska but it faced great opposition including from some tiger experts.”

“However, relocation from Ranthambore and elsewhere began and today there are 30 tigers in Sariska whose carrying capacity is at least 40. A remarkable success story that started much before 2014,” Ramesh who is also the former union minister of environment and forests from May 2009 to July 2011 said.

His remarks came after a media report that said the tiger population at Sariska hit its highest mark in three decades at 30, with the birth of two cubs. He also responded to a tweet of Rajasthan Chief Ministrer in Hindi.

According to the media report, the two cubs were born to ST-19 and the trio was captured on a trap camera in the buffer zone of the park near Alwar on July 6.