Jaipur, May 30 (PTI) The number of big cats in Rajasthan's Sariska Tiger Reserve has increased to 40 with the recent sighting of five new cubs, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma said on Thursday.

"We welcome the new guests to Sariska," Sharma said in a post on X and shared a video and camera trap of the cubs with their mother 'ST 22'.

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There has been a major increase in the number of tigers in Sariska as their strength has reached 40 with tigress 'ST 22' giving birth to four cubs, the chief minister said.

Sharing the video of the cubs, he said the fourth cub of tigress 'ST 12' was also captured in the camera trap and added that three of her cubs were spotted in March.

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He said after the rehabilitation of tigers in 2008, tigress 'ST 12' gave birth for the first time.

"Our government is fully committed to the conservation of the tiger, the symbol of speed and power, and to maintain a balanced ecosystem for them," he added in his post.

The Sariska Sanctuary is spread over 1,213.34 square kilometres in the Aravalli Hills, the oldest mountain range in the world.

There were no tigers left in Sariska in 2005. To revive the tiger population here, a tiger rehabilitation programme was started in 2008 by bringing two tigers and tigresses from the Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur district.

Apart from tigers, Sariska also has a large population of leopards and other wild animals.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)