Dr Bhaskar Choudhury
Manager
Wild Rescue

Dr Bhaskar Choudhury is a national award winning wildlife veterinarian from Guwahati, Assam, and works as a Manager with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). He is the Officer-in-charge of IFAW-WTI’s Elephant Reintegration Project in Manas National Park and also supervises field implementation of a number of other WTI projects in Lower Assam.

Bhaskar completed his graduation in Veterinary Sciences and Animal Health from the Assam Agricultural University in 1999. He joined WTI in July 2000 as the first of WTI’s existing team of experienced wildlife veterinarians.

"My field of interest is wildlife health and rehabilitation and my goal is to work for wildlife conservation as a wildlife veterinarian," he says.

During his tenure in WTI, Bhaskar has served as a veterinarian with the Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) units of Central Assam and Uttaranchal, and at the IFAW-WTI run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Through this time, he has handled numerous rescue cases involving many endangered species including the tiger, rhinos, elephants, Asiatic black bears etc. He was also part of the original CWRC team that encouraged local people to provide support and information on displaced animals, specially during the floods. 

As an Assistant Manager now, he facilitates emergency relief for wild animals in distress, implementation of rehabilitation of hand-raised animals and post-release monitoring, and also supervises care for animals admitted to the MVS Lower Assam unit. He is also responsible for liasoning with government and non-government agencies to work towards WTI’s mission to conserve nature.  

An astute wildlife veterinarian, he was honoured with a national award by the Association of Indian Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians at an International Congress organised in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, in April 2007.

Respected for his professionalism and sincerity towards work, Bhaskar is an icon for many of his colleagues. His inherent leadership skills were evident from his student years. 

“During his graduation, he was the General Secretary of the College. He was the first wildlife veterinarian in WTI, and we are just following his footsteps,” says a colleague who has known Bhaskar through college. 

Bhaskar is a good actor and has performed numerous plays during the college years.

“Acting was… my interest… but not anymore,” he confesses.

He is also a good cricket player. Bhaskar likes listening to music. He also enjoys photography and bird watching.