MUTUAL RESPECT: Roque with a caretaker at the Born Free Foundation sanctuary in Kent

The tigers will be cared for in a special facility, away from tourists' eyes.

Roque was barely five months old when he was discovered at a Spanish pet shop-scrawny, cooped up in a cage and miserable. In all probability, the little tiger cub's mother was killed and ground into bone to be sold in pill shops in East Asia. Or perhaps she eked out a living in a circus in Belgium. But Roque meant more money alive and so was shipped to the pet shop where he was tagged to be sold to the highest bidder. Till he was rescued by the UK-based Born Free Foundation (BFF).

Today, he lives a life of relative freedom at Born Free's sanctuary in Kent. But soon, along with five other tigers, he will be making a long journey to a new home-a rescue centre near Bannerghetta National Park in Karnataka.

For the first time, Roque will get a taste of the wild as close to his natural habitat as possible. And even better, there is talk of arranging his "marriage"-forest officials are on the lookout for a suitable and receptive tigress for Roque.

P.R. Sinha, secretary, Central Zoo Authority, says that the six tigers rescued by the foundation from circuses and pet shops mainly in Belgium and Italy will arrive in India by April. "It is part of an agreement between the foundation, the Karnataka Forest Department and a Delhi-based wildlife organisation, Wildlife Trust of India," he says. According to the agreement, BFF will pay the cost of creating the facility and for the upkeep of the tigers. Their keepers will stay on in India for some time to make their transition easier.

"We have already obtained the essential permission from the Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species and other authorities concerned," says Sinha.

The history of the Born Free tigers goes back to 1988 when the foundation first sent six tigers to Bannerghetta. Five have succumbed to old age, but one called Greenidge survives, awaiting the arrival of the new tribe.

Pleased with how the tigers fared, Will Travers, CEO of BFF, came down to India last year to explore the idea of sending more great cats to India. "Their sanctuary at Kent is about to close and the foundation wants the tigers to live in a habitat similar to their natural one," says G. Vidyasagar, conservator of forests, Bannerghetta.

The carnivores would have been the privileged guests of Britain's Royal Air Force, but now it has been decided that British Airways (BA) will do the honours. April-end, BA will land in Chennai with its regal, if unusual, entourage from where the tigers will proceed for Bannerghetta.

Preparations for the great cats is in full swing. A seven-acre facility has been prepared complete with a night kraal, allowing the carnivores the freedom to prowl any time of the day. Visitors are not allowed. "The big cats have lived in captivity for years now and cannot be rehabilitated in the wild. Here they will be taken care of, but will enjoy their freedom away from the prying eyes of tourists," says Vidyasagar.

Strictly speaking, this is not a homecoming for the Panthera tigris. "They appear to be of Sumatran and Siberian origin, but with captive-bred animals one can never tell," says Sinha.

BFF was founded by Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, real life Joy and George Adamson who were portrayed in the classic Born Free-the film about Elsa the lioness, who was nurtured by Joy and rehabilitated in the wild. In the same tradition, BFF highlights the plight of captive animals and rehabilitates them in conditions as close to the wild as possible.

The tigers have brought with them good tidings: coincidently, a tigress with two cubs was sited in November, 2000 in Bannerghetta. There had been no reports of tiger cubs in several years. These could well serve as the welcoming party.