Dr Abhijit Bhawal
Veterinary Surgeon
Mobile Veterinary Service - Upper Assam

A man of few words, but unarguably among the most intrepid of all Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) staff, Dr Abhijit Bhawal has risked his life many a time, pushing himself to extremes while attending to animals in distress.

Be it entering into a well to rescue a trapped tiger, tranquilising leopards in human settlements using makeshift equipment, treating injured animals and rearing wild orphans, Abhijit has been in the forefront of many rescue and rehabilitation operations. His sheer bravery has brought him much acclaim amongst his colleagues.

One recalls, “Once we needed a volunteer to descend into a well to put a sling around a tiger that had accidentally slipped in. When no one came forward, Abhijit did, and the tiger was safely rescued and released in the wild.”

“Ding dong bell...Tiger in the well...Who pulled it out? Dr Abhijit stout!”

A post-graduate from the College of Veterinary Science, Khanpara, Guwahati (Assam), Abhijit’s passion has been the Asian elephant. Touring the country’s protected areas to study elephants in captivity, he ended his MVSc with a thesis on the Prevalence of Common Diseases of Captive Asian Elephants (Elphas maximus) of Assam with special reference to Tuberculosis.

Currently posted at Dibru Saikhowa National Park, Abhijit runs the Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) unit of Upper Assam. He joined WTI in 2006. For two years, he worked with Kalandars (sloth bear performers) and their bears in Bihar and Chhattisgarh , as part of the holistic Sloth Bear Conservation and Welfare Project.

He was then transferred to the northeast. Since then, he has attended to numerous rescue cases involving many endangered species including tigers, leopards, elephants and black panthers. He has also been a part of several vaccination programmes being carried out by the Forest Department. He has also assisted in several flood relief operations in Assam – his home state, and one in Bihar.

Abhijit also looks after WTI’s Wild Buffalo Rehabilitation Project under which two hand-raised wild buffaloes were rehabilitated in Dibru Saikhowa. He currently oversees the post-release monitoring of these buffaloes.

“I have many happy memories of my work in WTI. Every injured animal we successfully treat and every displaced animal we rehabilitate, leaves us with a sense of satisfaction that cannot be compared to any other feeling,” says Abhijit.

“But there’s one experience I wish I had not had. A colleague got shot in front of my eyes while we were on a mission to capture a tiger that had ‘strayed’ into human settlement. I regret everyday at this incident but am glad that he is fine. I admire his resilience and his dedication – he returned to work almost immediately after he was discharged from the hospital. People like him inspire me,” he adds. “I am grateful to WTI for this platform and the Wild Rescue team members who have taught me so much about wildlife conservation.”

When free, Abhijit enjoys playing cricket and table tennis.