Outside the parks, however, tigers are being killed fast. And encroachment by human beings is a huge and growing problem. Kumar says tiger habitats are under severe pressure. The eastern state of Orissa, for example, has lost about 30 percent of its forests. Elephant Helps Guards Get Around Sonakali is just one elephant, but she could save tigers by helping forest guards, who were previously forced to patrol on foot the hundreds of acres in the Sonanadi district where tigers, wild elephants, sambar, spotted deer, wild boar and other animals roam.
Guards receive little help elsewhere.
Because of the bribes predators often pay and controversy over conservation efforts, which can affect local farming and industry, poaching is not much of a political issue. In 1998, Weirum's fund made another small contribution to solve the lack of equipment problem by purchasing a dinghy to be used by Corbett authorities for anti-poaching patrols in remote waterways. While his modest efforts may go far, they may still be too late to save the tigers. While the world is certainly not unaware of the tiger's plight, poachers are still busy trying to meet the demands of a surging market for contraband tiger parts. Tiger skins have also been recovered.