In what wildlife experts say is a rare occurrence, a tigress is rearing five cubs born to her nearly a year ago on the outskirts of Chandrapur town in Maharashtra. This is perhaps the first time such an event has been recorded in a non-protected area that doesn't fall under any tiger reserve or sanctuary. There have been at least two known such cases but both were inside protected areas - Pench Tiger Reserve and Kanha National Park (Madhya Pradesh). The state forest department released pictures and videos of the tigress and cubs, taken from camera traps in July, on Wednesday. Fearing an onrush of tourists, officials are not revealing the exact location of the tiger family. They only said that the tigress and cubs are in compartment no. 399 and 400 in Chandrapur range. The non-protected area is about 5km from Chandrapur city towards the popular Tadoba and Tiger Andhari Reserve.