Simultaneously hopeful and harrowing evidence suggests that wild tiger populations are making a comeback in Nepal — tiger attacks are on the rise.

There are currently fewer than 5,000 wild tigers, down from 100,000 a century ago, largely because of hunting and habitat destruction. In 1996, a buffer zone was established to keep people and livestock out of Royal Chitwan National Park, along Nepal’s southern border with India, to protect tigers. Ecologist Bhim Gurung of University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and colleagues analyzed the 88 tiger attacks that occurred between 1979 and 2006. The number of people killed by tigers soared from 1.2 people per year to 7.2 people per year once the forest bounced back in the buffer zone, they report in Biological Conservation.

As locals are likely to retaliate for this rise in killings by hunting and poisoning the recovering tigers, Gurung and colleagues say that more education is needed so that locals don’t enter the rejuvenated forest. Also, radio collars could be used to monitor potential problem animals, which could reduce killings.

“We call this a conservation success story, because tigers are breeding in the buffer zone now,” Gurung told ScienceNOW.

Eric Dinerstein, vice president of conservation science at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, warned ScienceNOW that tigers may only be killing more people now in Chitwan because there are now more people to kill.

Also, the Independent reports that a new wave of tiger conservation is beginning following a 2007 survey of wild tigers that found only 1,411 tigers in the Indian subcontinent.

“…I feel the message has got through. You can’t say ‘tiger’ to anybody without them understanding they’re a diminishing and valuable resource. With many governments understanding this, perhaps we can protect the tiger and perhaps it can survive.” says professional naturalist Steven Mill.