Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve Landscape
Roheet Karoo is a gift to tomorrow's tigers, particularly in the Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary area. Driven by the need to reclaim barren lands and restore them to forest status, he says he is haunted by the gruesome image of the dead tiger he saw outside the Government Veterinarian Hospital in Umred near Tadoba in Maharashtra when he was a class seven student. At that moment, he decided that his life would be spent defending this magnificent cat. His connections with nature were honed during school camps, wildlife trips and conservation talks that he conscientiously attended. By 2004, young Roheet had already begun to receive calls to rescue snakes and other wild animals that had run afoul of humans.
Your Tiger Defender is making a difference
He is currently working to turn unproductive farms to forest status, by channeling resources to communities whose livelihoods he believes must come from the restored biodiversity on their own lands. Interactions with mentors such as Suhas Bokade, Pravin Nagdeote and Nitin Desai (a Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award winner), provided Roheet with the depth and horizons he needed to throw himself into full-time wildlife conservation. The surveys and studies he has undertaken resulted in physical protection that has given the Tadoba Tiger Reserve an extra lease on life. A sober young man, driven by a deeper purpose, he has found support and approval from such prominent wildlife policy makers as Praveen Pardeshi, Principal Secretary, Forests, Maharashtra, and Rajendra Mulak, Minister of State for Maharashtra.
Roheet is the founding secretary of the Wildlife Conservation and Development Centre (WLCDC) and Honorary Wildlife Warden of Nagpur district. He has only one dream - to protect tigers and their habitats. His drive, purpose, and single-minded devotion will certainly give the tigers of Tadoba an extra edge on life. Read more about Roheet click here.
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Roheet needs small things. He is already receiving support from principled organisations such as the Wildlife Conservation Trust, but he say he could do with some more GPS sets and better mobility. The WLCDC also needs funds to extend its area of work and to explore new avenues for conservation. “WLCDC is assisting the Forest Department to resolve man-animal conflict and rescue big cats. We are also exploring new areas in the Tadoba landscape that can be declared sanctuaries," says Roheet.
Send your contributions to: Roheet P. Karoo, Jogithana Peth, Near Sadawarti Temple, Umred (Dist), Nagpur - 441203; Tel.: 919975723342, 917709722022
Source: Sanctuary Asia.
