Amid reports of declining tiger population nationwide, there is still hope for wildlife lovers and forest officials in Madhya Pradesh as the number of tiger cubs is increasing. Madhya Pradesh is known as Tiger State, but the average number of tigers came down to 300 in the last census. The Pench Tiger Reserve has announced sighting of three tigresses with 10 cubs in the last one month. S Dungriyal, Field Director of the national park told The Pioneer, "A tigress gave birth to four cubs on May 13, while the other one followed suit on May 21. The last three cubs were born on May 28. The birth of these 10 healthy cubs has added to the attraction of the Pench National Park." 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 river Pench. The forest officials came to know about the new cubs in Seoni district after one of the guards noticed a tigress along with the new arrivals in a den near a water body. The Pench National Park is spread in over 400 square km in three districts -- Seoni and Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Four cubs, seemed to be two to three-day-old, were spotted by forest personnel with their mother on May 15. Another tigress with three cubs was found on May 21 and yet another on May 28 three cubs 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. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) PB Gangopadhyay informed that Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh National Parks in Madhya Pradesh are good breeding centers. "There have been instances when 17 to 18 cubs were born in one season, but it was coincidence that 10 cubs were born in just one month's interval," he added. Gangopadhyay also informed that Pench is the only national park in the State where there is no village inside, which might be one of the reasons for better environmental conditions there. On the population of cubs in the park, officials declined to give an exact figure stating that it was difficult to give the exact number of cubs at this stage, but it was estimated that there are 15 cubs below the age of one year and 19 cubs between the age of 12 and 18 months. Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah said, "Conditions congenial for wildlife have developed at the Pench National Park at a much faster pace than any other national park. That is the reason why wild animals and birds are multiplying in a natural way."