Pench (Madhya Pradesh) (PTI): Wildlife lovers worried about endangered wild cats have something to cheer as three tigresses have given birth to 10 cubs at the Pench National Park.

One tigress gave birth to four cubs and two others to three each within a month, which is quite unprecedented, N S Dungriyal, Field Director of the national park, told PTI.

The cubs with their mothers were sighted at different locations of the park, nestling on the lower reaches of the Satpura hills and named after the river Pench.

Four cubs looking two to three days old were spotted by forest personnel with their mother on May 15. Another tigress with three cubs were found on May 21 and yet another on May 28 with a litter of three at the park, which was brought under Project Tiger in 1992.

Elated over the birth of so many cubs at Pench, a relatively new national park, the forest department personnel have taken special steps to protect them.

Dungriyal said special attention was being given with regular and night patrolling in the area where the cubs were seen. Elephants were also being used to monitor the cubs.