From the Director's Desk.....
Dr. Shirish V. Upadhye
M.V.Sc., Ph.D., FISVS
In the current era of the Anthropocene, virtually all ecosystems in the world are subject to some form of
anthropogenic impact. Pollution, intense deforestation, climate change, antibiotic resistance have all posed
challenges to the endurance of life on this planet. Wildlife in particular has been the most affected due to
habitat annihilation, lack of corridors, pollution, poaching, disease outbreaks and depleting resources. As
yet, it is usually not possible to reliably predict the response of wildlife in a specific context to the rapid
global change. However, such predictions are urgently needed in order to design appropriate concepts and
methods for conservation intervention and prioritise the use of the limited resources available for
conservation.
Our vision is to help in bringing resilience to wildlife by identifying six major areas of impact
Understanding adaptability:
- With the advent of enormous challenges faced by wildlife in their natural habitat we wish to probe
into the basic research of the challenges faced by wildlife in India. - Understand the biotic and abiotic stressors that are responsible for the bottleneck pressure on
various species. Application of veterinary research in understanding the response and adaptability
of wild animals in pressure situations.
Contributing to Conservation breeding:
- Based on understanding of ecosystem and stressors, we aim to design scientific methodologies to
support conservation breeding among the endangered wildlife. - Utilization of Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART) for the conservation breeding of
endangered wildlife. - Preservation of germ cells and tissue from endangered species conservation efforts
Health care and Management in wildlife:
Understanding the need of a global hotspot that India is, need for an efficient healthcare platform
to cater to wide and challenging needs of the wildlife is felt. We at Wildlife Research and Training
Centre, Gorewada are committed to build a centre of excellence in wild animal health care by
providing prompt health care services.Trauma and critical care are a high priority in wildlife, we envision an establishment of
outstanding facilities to care for critical and trauma incidences in wildlife along with facilities for
rehabilitation care.To enrich the lives of wildlife under captivity the centre looks forward to propose and validate
standard captive management practices under scientific regime to ensure health and well-being of
the wild.Understanding the zoonoses of the wildlife and developing measures to counter them.
Molecular Biology and application based research for wildlife conservation
Develop a centre of excellence to provide insights in the area of molecular biology, forensics and
DNA technology to assist the conservation efforts.Develop reliable and cost effective technologies in diagnosis of wild animal disease.
Provide research inputs in translational research regarding the understanding of wildlife disease
and disease models.
Training hub to cater to all disciplines associated with Wildlife Conservation
Wildlife Research and Training center, Gorewada resolves to utilize the expertise in veterinary
health care and management in bringing awareness among the masses and sensitising the general
public regarding the need to conserve the environment and wildlife.
Awareness and extension initiatives
We at Wildlife Research and Training center, Gorewada envisage a development of a knowledge
hub that can cater to the needs of a wide category of components in resource and capacity
building