Mysore/Mysuru: The Forest Department staff have spotted the two cubs of the tigress that was found snared to death close to the Taraka Dam near the Antharasanthe Range of Nagarahole in H.D. Kote yesterday. The tigress, famous as ‘Nayanji Katte female’ fell prey to the snare laid by hunters to hunt wild boars.

The Department personnel are searching for one more cub and said that the three cubs are 10-month old and need the care and nursing of their mother. “We are trying our best to find the cubs and over 30 CCTV cameras have been placed in the vicinity where the carcass of the tigress has been found,” Forest officers told Star of Mysore.

If the cubs are not rescued, there is a danger of them starving to death. “We do not want this to happen and teams have been patrolling the core area of the forests since last night to locate the cubs,” officers said. The tigress death incident came to light when the locals sighted the carcass and informed the Forest Department who identified it as the same tigress which used to be sighted near Taraka.

Laying of snares is a practice to protect one’s crops as any other method like fencing. Snares have been put around farms, coffee estates and wildlife corridors for defending produce or for other ulterior motives for ages.

With many owners of farms on the periphery of the woods making snares from green-coated wires to camouflage to escape detection by Forest Department officials, the task to remove the snares is difficult, said officers.