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Although tiger attacks on humans are unusual, they do occur. Because the Asian human population is increasing, farmers and loggers are begining to use areas where tigers live. This causes increasing conflicts between tigers and human. It is thought that most tigers who eat humans are sick or injured and unable to kill their usual prey. Once they have acquired a taste for human beings, however, they will in all likelihood continue to kill them.
While man-eating tigers are a rarity in most parts of Asia, they are notorious in the Sunderbans, a 4,000 square mile (10,360 sq km) densely forested river delta area in India and Bangladesh that is the home of 250 tigers. No one lives in the mangrove forests and swamps of the Sunderbans; however people do enter to fish and gather wood and honey. The Sunderban tigers seem to have targeted humans as prey, and human casualties are reported every year.
Several different methods have been used to combat man-eating tigers in the Sunderbans. One method uses human dummies fitted with electric wires from car batteries which administer a shock when touched by a tiger, training tigers not to attack humans. Another method uses simple masks of human faces which are worn on the back of the head. This effectively made both sides of the wearer appear to be the front, deterring attacks from tigers which normally attack from behind. While this method seemed to work for several years, it appears that the Sunderban tigers have discovered the trick.