HOW MANY claws does a leopard have? None of the forest officials in Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) knew and several villagers nearly paid the price for the officials' ignorance.

It all began on September 13, when a leopard entered the house of Dauji Motiram Langhe Ahupe in BWS and hid in the loft. Attempts to drive away the animal failed and Langhe and some of his friends finally climbed on to the roof of the hut, removed a few tiles and netted the leopard. Goaded by retired police official Kede Patil and his son Govind, the villagers killed the leopard. Before dumping the carcass, the villagers removed the leopard's claws because of their socio-resigious and decorative value. That's when the trouble began.

Recounts Langhe, "The next day, some officials came and threatened to arrest eight of us (for killing the animal). We would be jailed for six years and be fined Rs 25,000 each." However, after a lot of pleading, the officials relented. The villagers had to make a written statement saying they killed the leopard in self-defence and that they would never do so again.

But the matter did not end there: To harass the villagers, the officals asked for the animal's claws, as "proof" that a leopard had been killed. When the villagers handed in 16, the officials, certain that leopards have 20 claws, were furious. The carcass was retrieved and examined, but even then the officials were not convinced. "We were told we would be jailed for not handing over the four claws," says Langhe.

The impasse finally ended when Kusum Karnik of Ekjoot Sanghatana, a people's organisation of the area, along with zoologist friends in Pune, convinced the officials that a leopard has only 18 claws. The villagers had removed only 16 as the other two were too small.