Jorhat, Oct. 23: The Assam forest department, with the help of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation, is desperately trying to rehabilitate a one-and-a-half-month-old Royal Bengal tiger cub found abandoned at the Burapahar range of Kaziranga National Park a couple of days back.

The cub has been kept in a “weak cage” and left at the place from where it was found so that the mother could easily break in and take it away.

Aranyak, an NGO working in the national park, has installed at least five cameras in the area to monitor the situation.

“We have left it in the place for two days but the mother has not yet turned up to take away the cub. We will carry on with our effort to reunite the cub with its mother,” the range officer of Burapahar range, Ikramul Mazid, told The Telegraph.

He said pug marks of a tiger has been seen about 200 metres away from where the cub has been kept this morning. “We are not sure whether the pug marks were that of the mother or belongs to some other tiger,” Mazid said.

The range officer said the cub was found abandoned by a patrolling party of forest guards on October 21 near the Baneswar camp under the Burapahar range.

“With the mother nowhere in sight, forest guards brought the abandoned cub to the range office,” Mazid said.

He said after a thorough check health check-up it was decided to reunite the female cub with its mother. “A hand-raised tiger cub will always land up in a zoo or some other rehabilitation centre. So it was decided to reunite it with its mother,” the range officer said.

Accordingly, a “weak cage” was constructed to keep the cub and was placed at the same place from where it was found. “It would be easy for the mother to break into the cage and take away the cub. Apart from several cameras being installed in the area, our men are keeping a close watch so the no harm is caused to the cub,” the official said.

Abhijit Bhawal, a veterinarian at the conservation centre, said the cub has been brought back to the centre this morning after the mother did not turn up for the past two nights. It will be taken back to the area again this evening.

“There is every possibility of the mother coming back to get back the cub. We will continue with the operation for the next few days,” he said.

Kaziranga National Park has the highest density of tiger in the world with 36 tigers being detected in a 100 square km area and efforts are being made for conservation of the big cat listed under the highly endangered category of the Wildlife Protection Act.