``Damn the laws,'' scream teachers, mukhias and sarpanchs of numerous villages in and around Kadi taluka. ``Kill the kadiyaals (black bucks). They have virtually ruined our lives.'' ``They are Schedule 1 animals, but are we in Schedule 5 along with the dogs?'', asks Ramesh Patel.

The anger, you could say, runs deep and strong. But cue back in time to see how it all began, how a once-loved herd of 20 black bucks metamorphosed into a 7,000-strong herd of destroyers.

V N Mori, honorary wildlife warden of Mehsana district, rues the day 25 years ago when he saved a herd of 20 black bucks from hunters in Kadi. ``We confronted the hunters saying the animals were sacred to us. But it seems the animals themselves have turned against us.'' Mori's regret and desperation are not unfounded. In 1975 there were 2,500 villagers in Visatpur;today, only 1,100. There were five oil and ginning mills some 10 years ago. Today, they are shuttered and barred, their owners unable to deal with the perennial threat to their crop.

And the threat is more often than not carried out. Ask Bhailalbhai Bhudharbhai Patel, a teacher at the Ranchodpura Prathmik Shala. ``Look,'' he says pointing at kadiyaal hoofmarks that dot his jeera fields.

Or ask Jayantibhai Patel of Dharampur. ``In one hour they can finish off crops spread over an acre of land. Dhania and gehu are their main targets, along with mag and tuwer. We have to keep a 24-hour vigil, otherwise we will be left with nothing but tears the next morning.''

The villagers have built make-shift huts in their fields to be able to check the black bucks who are said to run at speeds of more than 80 km per hour.The people have put up with their plight long enough. Now they're giving vent to their anger and their main target is the administration. Dalsukhbhai Panaji Das, the sarpanch of Ranchodpura in Kaditaluka for the past 15 years, asks: ``Why aren't the officials doing anything about it? Is the kadiyaal our national animal?'' In a vitriolic attack on his erstwhile object of devotion, he continues, ``They can't be forgiven anymore. Fifty per cent of our crops have been destroyed. There is no solution as the Government refuses to compensate us for our losses. The kadiyaal has to go.''Inundated by frantic calls from villagers, the Government did sanction Rs 11 lakh to set up traps and a relocation project to deal with the menace, but the project has flopped. Things went drastically wrong on the first day -- last Friday -- the plan was put to action. Of the six black bucks that the forest officials managed to trap -- out of a target of 50 -- two died of shock. And as the four surviving black bucks are currently under observation at the Indodra Park at Gandhinagar, forest officials fear the mortality rate could go up.

The deaths were ``expected'', says deputy conservator of forests D S Narvey. ``This wasbound to happen even if you came up with other modes of trapping. Shock to lagta hai. The animal is so sensitive that it sometimes dies even when it is touched.''

Adds Bharat Pathak, conservator of forests: ``This was the first time such an experiment was being carried in India and maybe even in Asia. And the target was difficult. We are hoping to reduce the rate of mortality. We have to be very cautious as the world over it is an endangered species.''Ramesh Patel may have a thing or two to say about that.