An elephant crashes through the dense bamboo. Tiny ragdoll figures cling to its saddle, flung about by the rolling gait. They look seasick and frightened, except a petite Indian woman.

Latika Nath leans casually against the safety rail. She is hunting for big game, a nervous camera crew in tow. When the tigers appear, tawny flashes in the forest, she will shoot them.

But the days of Ernest Hemingway are over, and the Oxford University student bears only a powerful Nikon. This excursion is part of her doctoral research on the Bengal tigers in India's Bandhavgarth National Park.

Charger, an aggressive male, springs from the undergrowth. He roars into Latika's lens as she leans closer. The elephant, more sensibly, retreats. Such face-to-face confrontations are rare. Her work usually involves remote cameras triggered by infrared beams and she has designed more than 40 of these systems, built from local materials.

More than 30 different tigers have been captured on film during the last five years. The images are sent to the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit on South Parks Road, Oxford, where zoologists are devising a tiger-management plan.

Intervention is needed because the big cats are threatened by poaching and government apathy. The sub-continent tiger population has fallen from 4,500 to well below 3,000 according to a report published last week by the United Nations Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (Cities). Charges brought against poaching gangs rarely result in convictions because of corruption. Cities believes organised crime is behind the illegal wildlife trade, which nets 5bn a year second only to drugs smuggling.

In contrast, tiger protection schemes spend about 94m, mostly on sanctuaries. The UN report claims these efforts lack concern, lack effort, lack resources, lack co-ordination and a possess a "culture of cover-up".

The newspapers have sounded grave warnings: "Tigers on brink of extinction. In ten years they may all be gone; How corruption is killing the tiger". Yet Latika says the situation isn't quite that grim.

"It's easier to say tigers are on the brink, it's more sensational. I'm not saying they aren't in danger. A gang of armed poachers could take them all out. But tigers are resilient and breed quickly. They can spring back." However, she agrees that funds could be better spent. "The big problem is that the money isn't going where it should. More than simply donating, people should demand accounts of how the cash is spent. Less money should go to administration in big towns and more to grass-roots projects, to people in the field.

"There's not enough staff, adequate arms, clothes, communications or back-up. They can't do their jobs, so all other efforts fall flat.

"Even if you donate a car, there's no guarantee how much it will be used for patrolling. You need to set aside money for petrol and demand that a certain amount of mileage is dedicated to the tigers. The world needs to demand more accountability, to express its views more strongly."

Ironically, Latika's camera traps have snapped both hunter and prey. "On occasion poachers and illegal trespassers in the National Park are photographed." The bad guys are usually after bones rather than the exotic skins which are used in traditional Chinese medicines. The products are considered great aphrodisiacs because tigers can mate 1,000 times in three days for only seconds at a time, however.

"These aren't just used in Japan, Korea and China, but also in so-called first-world nations such as America and Australia," she says.

Oxford's tiger project hopes to protect these "charismatic, elusive mega-cats". This has been Latika's dream since early childhood.

"I was born and brought up in India. For the first ten years of my life, I lived in a village between Delhi and Agra. My dad is an epidemiologist and was setting up primary health centres. "He was also special adviser on wildlife for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. From birth I was around the most famous conservationists in India. At seven, I decided to study tigers."

She completed an environmental science degree in India, and took a British Council scholarship to study at the University of Wales, in Bangor. She then persuaded David MacDonald to accept her as a PhD candidate.

"I was the first person in the Oxford big cats group. Now we have two people on lions and one on cheetahs."

The 29-year-old is creating a database of tigers, which helps scientists track population shifts and sadly, identify poached skins. She also studies the tiger's diets, examining the left-overs with a practical eye. "We looked at 40 kills, as well as the microscopic examination of more than 350 droppings. Three species chital, sambar deer and wild boar constitute 70 per cent of the tigers' diet in Bandhavgarh National Park."

Human behaviour is scrutinised as well. The park's poverty-stricken neighbours are more likely to aid poachers, to be part of the problem rather than the solution.

"We need to ensure that the local populations support the conservation of the animal. It is essential that villagers have a stake in the maintenance of the park," she explains.

As for Latika, she is polishing up her thesis and her lenses. She would rather be in that bamboo thicket than anywhere else on earth. "Someone could offer me $1million a day for another job, but I would say no," she laughs. "I would stay right here with my tigers."

Contact the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit on 01865 271289 or write to WildCRU, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS.