About Me

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I am a commerce graduate from Mumbai University (graduated in 1996) and have spent 12 years in corporate marketing and customer service. Driven by desire to work for wildlife and conservation, I volunteered and interned at BNHS Conservation Education Centre in Mumbai from 2010 to 2012. In 2011, I worked at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, studying the behavior, health, and conservation needs of giraffes, along with rhinos and lions and assisting with animal management in a semi-wild setting.

Back in India, I focused on giraffe behavior and management in captivity, educating zoo visitors on giraffe conservation at Kolkata and Mysore Zoos in 2015-2016. At Kolkata Zoo, I developed methods for improved giraffe management, presented this research at the 2016 International Giraffe Conference in Chicago, and published the findings. In 2017, I conducted a genetic study of Kolkata Zoo’s giraffes to identify their species/subspecies, which I presented at the 2019 International Giraffe Conference in Ohio. This study was later published in the Indian Zoo Yearbook in 2021.

In 2018, I interned in giraffe zookeeping at Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, Indiana, gaining AZA-standard training in giraffe husbandry, health care, juvenile care, enrichment, and behavioral training.

I am associated with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF), a Namibia based leading NGO solely working on giraffe conservation across 20 countries in Africa. My collaboration with GCF includes participation in giraffe population surveys, GPS satellite collaring projects in Uganda, and co-authoring the 2021 publication on giraffe population estimates in Africa.

I have consulted on giraffe care, focusing on births. From 2021 to 2022, I advised Patna Zoo on the pre- and post-birth care of giraffe calves. In 2023, I mentored the successful hand-raising of a rejected calf at Assam State Zoo, ensuring it received essential care for healthy growth.