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KARTICK SATYANARAYAN
Bear Conservation Expert
Co-founder, Wildlife S.O.S
E-mail: kartick@wildlifesos.org
Kartick co-founded Wildlife S.O.S. in 1995, with Geeta Seshamani. The same year they embarked on the first intensive investigation into the status of the Indian Sloth Bear in our country. Their two-year research revealed the ugly truth about the ubiquitous and continuing trade of bears. Through the results of this study they were able to make several recommendations to the government on how to tackle this multi-dimensional issue. With the support of the state forest departments, they have been able to set up four Bear Rehabilitation Centres in India (Agra, Bangalore, Bhopal and Hyderabad), where not just the dancing bears, but their owners too are given a new life and livelihood. There are now 392 bears being rehabilitated in their centres.
In an attempt to curb the trade and poaching of wildlife, they have set up an Information Intelligence Network across nine Indian states. Over the past three years, they have confiscated over sixty bear cubs through their under-cover seizures. They work closely with State Forest Departments, the Wildlife Preservation Wing, Police, Customs, Special Task Force and Special Operations Groups.
His tryst with rescuing animals began when he was still in school, and would assist the Karnataka Forest Department on Night Patrols in searching for any illegal activities within the national parks. He has since worked extensively in the national parks of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Assam in various capacities, and in 1992 took on a three-year project with the New York Zoological Society on the Tiger Ecological Status Survey.
GEETA SESHAMANI
Bear Conservation Expert,
Co-founder,Wildlife S.O.S
E-mail: geetaseshamani@hotmail.com
Geeta has been involved in animal welfare and wildlife conservation for over thirty years. She has pioneered work in animal welfare in Delhi, and also set up the First-ever Stray-Animal Birth Control centre in the city. Her organization Friendicoes SECA (Society for Eradication of Cruelty to Animals) was started twenty-eight years ago in 1979, and continues to provide the best veterinary facilities for any stray animal that is brought to its shelter.
In 1995, she co-founded Wildlife S.O.S. and undertook an investigation to ensure that crimes against the Indian Sloth Bear can be ended. She has been a guiding force for the Agra Bear Rehabilitation Centre. Her passion and commitment to animals has been recognized by the government, who have appointed her to several of their committees; she is part of the Government of India Committee for Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experimentation on Animals, the Animal Welfare Board of India, the Central Zoo Authority amongst others.
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