Story highlights Cubs found after mother killed by electric fence

Tiger numbers on the rebound in India after hitting low in 2006

New Delhi (CNN) When park rangers in India discovered three orphaned tiger cubs, they knew they had a challenge on their hands.

Suspicious of humans and rejecting bottles, the rangers needed to get creative if they wanted to nurse the protected cubs back to health.

India's tiger population is on the rebound after hitting a low in 2006 of 1,411. India is home to nearly 65% of the world's tigers which number about 3,890, according to the latest figures from the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Tiger Forum.

Park rangers at the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh came up with the idea of fitting a stuffed toy tiger with synthetic nipples and milk bottles for the cubs to feed from.

Two Indian cubs hiss at the camera after being nursed back to health.

"When the calf of a buffalo dies, villagers will use a dummy calf to get milk from the buffalo. It's the smell of the calf which stimulates the lactation in the mother," Mridul Pathak, a field director at Bandhavgarh reserve where the cubs were taken for rehabilitation, told CNN.

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