While rushing our lives day to day and eying for so-called developed, urban life, many times we forgot that this world is not there only for the human race. There are hundreds of species and what we should learn is their co-existence. While thousands live their lives ignoring this fact, people like Dr. Amol Khedgikar put an example of the successful amalgamation of the wild and human world, making co-existence an actual thing.
Journey into the wildlife –
Dr. Amol started as a young 7-year-old kid who wanted to help animals in distress in any way possible. Started helping injured birds, animals and began with convincing people to not kill snakes, This passion soon grew into a lifelong obsession and wildlife conservation became not only his profession but his purpose in life.
Dr. Amol started his journey as a wildlifer in India itself. As a veterinary student and then a practitioner, he visited Katraj zoo near Pune in Maharashtra several times. There he started learning the first lessons of dealing with wild animals including snakes. Working regularly on this, he got an opportunity to visit Konkan repeatedly and that enriched his experience as a wildlife handler. At this coastal area of India, Amol first started watching and understanding the behavior of crocodiles.
Later, after some years, when he started working in the US, he got the opportunity to look into the life of crocodiles. There he first noticed some change in the potency of male crocodiles, a decrease in their population, and resultant effects. The same thing he had observed in India also and that experience came in handy to him in the US too. This research on Crocodiles gave him exposure to the amazing world of allegators and a rich experience. Since then, Amol has worked in different regions across the globe including India and other countries. Whatever may be your work area, consistency is the key to success and that proved true to him. Dedicated efforts for his research not only gave him fame and success but also insight into the amazing world of animals. Years of good work have made him a man with loads of knowledge, experience, and of course, insight into the world and life at large.
Dr Amol in his various projects
When life was at stake –
And when you talk about experiences of wildlife, Dr. Amol Khedgikar has loads of these stacked down memory lane. While doing his study in Tadoba Tiger Project in Maharashtra in India, he was all of a sudden confronted with the tigress who was in search of her cubs. Amol was hardly a few feet away from the mother and was feeling her angry breath and terrifying roars. Thanks to the experience of many hours in the forest, he could hold his composure, restrict his movement and try everything to disturb the tigress anymore. One hit of a strong paw or grip of her teeth could have been the last moment for Amol. But that day, luck was on the better side. As if the tigress had more jobs to do than to attack him, she just went away and disappeared into the jungle. But, the shivering moment has made a permanent imprint on the mind.
Another experience of getting caught by crocodiles was equally life-threatening and once again luck favored Amol. And why this one, Amol has loads of such stories to tell and experiences to share. Nothing of such things could stop him from going deep into the wild world and feeling the beauty of divine nature.
Dr Amol with Indian Cobra
Service to community, service to humanity –
Dr. Amol has been a great help for the community in Dallas and around, as he has rushed many times to rescue snakes and other animals. In all such situations, people call him, and Amol or his team provides their valuable help. ‘ We go to many places for such rescue work, but we also put a condition to people. As a value or say it a principle, we ask people not to kill the animal until we reach and rescue it. It is their world also,’ says Dr. Amol. As he will continue this rescue work in the future, now he is trying to build a more wide and strong network of rescuers which could save the lives of many wild animals and also help people. No doubt, with his kind of love and dedication to the wild world, he is going to achieve this very soon.
Dr. Amol’s message to the community
Dr. Amol believes that every person on the planet can make a positive difference to their environment regardless of where they are. They just need to identify where they can help and just getto it!
Amol in Marathi means invaluable, beyond any price. Dr. Khedgikar has left no stone unturned to prove this name. Indeed Invaluable he is…!
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