Bengaluru, March 4 (IANS): The Karnataka forest department has found three newborn leopard cubs without their mother in a sugar cane field at Tumbala village in T. Narasipur taluk, Mysuru district, a forest official said on Wednesday.

"After the villagers alerted us, we found the cubs and rescued them on Tuesday," Mysuru Division Deputy Conservator of Forests, K.C. Prasanth Kumar, told IANS.

However, Kumar also said that it was not right to remove the cubs from the place where the mother nestled them.

"The cubs shouldn't have been rescued from the spot. I have instructed to leave the cubs in the same place because it is not correct to remove them from the place where the mother has kept them," he said.

The Deputy Conservator of Forests said the department will return the cubs to the same spot for the next two days to enable the mother take them away.

As the mother leopard generally comes in the night to take away the cubs, Kumar said he will review his decision after two days.

He said the forest staff would place the cubs at the spot and hide somewhere nearby.

"Usually, the mother remembers the place where it keeps her cubs. But now the mother would have been disturbed because of a lot movement," Kumar said.

T. Narasipura Taluk is 145 km south-west of Bengaluru.