Broken Tail is furious. In the span of a few minutes this 6 ft-long female leopard has been subjected to the indignity of being transported through three cages. In the last one, a squeeze cage which resembles an outsized sugar-cane crusher, an attendant turns the wheel, telescoping the cage. Veterinarian Aniruddha Belsare gingerly lifts her tail to inject at its base a tiny rice-grain-sized transponder chip under the skin. He waves a hand-held reader near the spot which blips the reading: 00-0617-53AE. In a few days, Broken Tail and her eight-month-old cub, similarly tagged, will be released into a forest reserve. But the mother doesn't think too much of her licence to prowl. Venting feline fury, she hisses and snarls, baring fangs and pacing her cage.

IN CUSTODY: A leopard at the Manikdoh Rescue Centre, Junnar

This is no zoo, but another day at the Manikdoh Rescue Centre in Junnar, a small town about 100 km north of Pune, nestling in the shadow of the towering Shivneri Fort, Chhatrapati Shivaji's birthplace. Shielded from prying eyes behind locked gates, this lush 13-acre nursery has been converted into an enclosure for captive leopards. In cages nearby, eight other leopards, sapphire eyes glowing, perform noiseless gravity-defying leaps on and off the cement ledges, black tails twitching like angry kraits. Hand-written placards contain details of the date, area of capture and the health of the animal.

These magnificent predators swathed in rosette-patterned fur, at once the epitome of lethal beauty, haven't been trapped from a forest reserve but from farmland. Because leopard country in Maharashtra is now located in the swaying sugar-cane fields where the Panthera pardus is witnessing a population explosion of sorts. In the past two years, 98 leopards have been trapped from Junnar, an area the size of south Mumbai, 68 of them from a 22 sq km area alone. The Forest Department is now overseeing a massive relocation programme-said to be the largest in the country-to tag and release them into the wild.

The implants, which have been injected into a dozen animals so far, act as identity cards and tell forest officials where the animal originated, if it has been killed or captured in its new habitat, and, eventually, the success of the relocation scheme.

In forests throughout India, this smaller, weaker member of the cat family has been traditionally cast to the fringes, the buffer zone between farm and forest land, by its chief enemy-the tiger.

A decade ago, it was tough times for this Schedule I animal in Maharashtra. Food was scare, as its prey base-small animals-began dwindling. The scrubland in which it sheltered was being encroached upon by humans and of a female leopard's litter of two cubs barely one survived. Of course, in such trying times any other predator would simply have died, as indeed many leopards did, of starvation. But that wouldn't quite be the cat whose trademark, besides its spots, has been extreme resilience and adaptability-they have been known to survive on crabs and even insects.

TEST TRAP: Caged leopards which will be tagged and released into forest reserves

Then between 1985 and 1990 five irrigation projects in western Maharashtra pumped water through a network of canals, transforming vast swathes of the dust bowl into verdant farmland. At around this time, theorise Forest Department officials, the first thirsty leopard came down from the hills in search of water. It discovered not just irrigation channels, but splendid man-made forests-sugar-cane fields which grew up to 12 ft and provided easy prey: dogs, sheep and goats.

It was a windfall the tenacious beast was quick to pounce on. Shielded in the tall fields for up to 18 months at a stretch, the leopards multiplied. Not only did entire litters of three begin to survive but female leopards started giving birth to up to four cubs, producing two litters every year. The population exploded. Livestock, including cattle and even pet dogs, was devoured by the cats. It's not uncommon now to see farmers build cages to house their precious pets.

But the real problem began when leopards started attacking the easiest prey in sight: man. In the past two years, nine people, including five children, were killed and eaten by the cats. A rough estimate showed the number of cats to be close to 100 and increasing, double the assessment of the state Government. This was when the Forest Department realised the enormity of the problem it was faced with, one it had neither the resources nor expertise to tackle.

It was a potentially explosive conflict-hungry leopards on the one hand and angry villagers on the other. Villagers bayed for leopard blood-two dead leopards for every dead villager. A decision was taken to trap and relocate the animals to distant places. "Fortunately, unlike the tiger, the leopard eats humans only as a last resort and can go back to hunting its natural prey," says Deputy Conservator of Forests Ashok Kumar Khadse.

Two years ago, Khadse's team stopped releasing the leopards in the nearby Bhimashankar forest reserve when it found the leopards could easily find their way back to the sugar-cane fields. Hence, the first batch of 12 animals were sent to four wildlife sanctuaries in different parts of Maharashtra.

The long-distance relocation of Junnar's leopard population had begun. It wasn't an easy task. Trapped leopards were often given police escorts to protect them from lynch mobs In some cases leopards, used to being fed, refused to leave their cages. A behaviour that Khadse is now anxious to avoid-the captive beasts are fed live chickens each day to preserve their predatory instincts. A hearts and minds campaign sensitised locals to the need to preserve the beast. The state Government pitched in, increasing the compensation for death nearly fivefold to Rs 2 lakh.

In the midst of this hectic activity, Khadse and his team have permitted themselves that rare moment of self-congratulation-an application to the Guinness Book of Records for the largest leopard trapping from the smallest area. Broken Tail and her leopard brethren are only a paw swipe from the record books.