Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 26 (IANS): Four tiger cubs have finally been rescued from the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), almost 12 days after their mother died.

On March 14, a field forest team had found a two-day old carcass of a tigress and four cubs around it. But before the cubs could be rescued, they had strayed off and forest officials were worried that they may have fallen prey to other carnivores or may have died of starvation.

It is only when a tiger cub is eight months old that it can survive on its own. Any time before that, it needs its mother and can only go up to eight days without being fed.

A combing operation was launched, with 25 camera traps installed around the area where the carcass had been found but the cubs were not found.

The operation was abandoned on March 18.

Deputy Director of PTR Naveen Khandelwal said: "A forest patrol team, on Wednesday, saw pug marks of tiger cubs about one kilometre from the area where their mother had died. After a few hours of search, we found them alive and well, hiding within the shrubs in the core forest's Mala range."

After the rescue, they were hydrated with essential electrolytes and fed goat milk. "We did not, however, weigh them because we wanted to minimize contact. We did not want to frighten them too much with unfamiliar touch," Khandelwal said.

The cubs, on Thursday, were moved to Lucknow zoo for better care.