SUNGAI GELAM, Indonesia (AP) – Indonesia’s tiger catchers have a double job – protecting humans from tigers, and tigers from humans.

The elite teams of rangers and conservationists rush to the scene every time villagers report attacks or sightings of critically endangered Sumatran tigers. First, they calm the people. And then, if there are signs the animal is nearby, they return with steel cage traps, live bait, heat-sensitive cameras and other equipment to capture the magnificent beasts.

This time, three people have been killed in less than a week – Rabai Abdul Muthalib, 45, a rubber tapper ambushed near a river, and days later, Suyud, 50, and his son, Imam Mujianto, 21, who were sleeping in their hut when the yellow-eyed tiger pounced through the thin roof. The beast devoured the brain, heart and liver of the youngest victim, spreading terror through surrounding villages.

If the team cannot put a quick end to the killing spree, residents will shoot or poison the Sumatran tiger, which is already on the brink of extinction.

There are only around 250 of the cats left in the wild, compared to about 1,000 in the 1970s, according to the World Wildlife Fund, meaning the Panthera tigris sumatrae could become the first large predator to go extinct in the 21st century.

The tiger catchers’ job is to trap the animals, carry out health checks, fit them with GPS tracking collars and then release them back into national parks or other protected areas. Often they come back empty-handed, but this time they find a tigress six feet long – excluding the tail – crouched in their trap. First she is calm, then she explodes, growling and throwing her 180-pound body against the steel bars.

“There’s no place for its prey to live here, all the land has been converted into oil palm plantations,” said Nurdin, the Nature Conservation Agency official.

Their habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate, with 667,000 acres of lowland forests being cleared annually, mostly for palm oil, which is used in cosmetics and candy but also to make “clean-burning” fuel for markets in the U.S. and Europe.

Other culprits are loggers and mining companies, whose projects limit mating grounds, leave remaining tiger populations isolated and scattered, and chase off the majestic cats’ prey.

The biggest threat to conservation is conflict with humans, according to a recent report by the Forestry Ministry. On average, five to 10 Sumatran tigers have been killed every year since 1998, the report said.

“At this rate, they will soon be extinct,” said Hariyo Wibisono of Harimaukita, an alliance that coordinates 15 state agencies and tiger conservation groups.

Sometimes the animals are killed by frightened villagers, other times by poachers who sell their carcasses for trophies or to supply a growing demand for tiger bones in traditional medicine. A poacher can get $3,300 for a dead tiger – what some people in this impoverished nation of 235 million make in a year.

In the meantime, the tiger catchers are fighting an uphill battle.

At the present rate of deforestation, there will eventually be no safe place to release the captured tigers. So international wildlife experts are working with the government to come up with a 10-year conservation strategy. They want palm oil and other companies to either help monitor the activity of tigers on their property or, better yet, put aside some land as a sanctuary for wildlife.

“For years, we fought against land conversion, but it did not work,” said Wibisono, of the tiger conservation alliance. “We had to try a different approach.”