Team
Capt Suresh Sharma: Team Leader: He is the founder of the Snake Cell; one of those lucky few who got introduced to the wonders of nature while yet a toddler. His father used to take him out to the nearby jungle patch for morning walks everyday and Suresh has kept in touch with nature to this day and it is now a passion with him. His love of nature, photography and travel got him to join Indian army, which took him to all corners of India and abroad. But he left the army to pursue his hobbies and passions, whole time.
He has been associated with wildlife film projects including two for the National Geographic Society, USA. With talents & skills in numerous fields, he is an expert in designing and fabrication of natural history sets for shooting wildlife films, under controlled conditions. He also designs cine support equipment for wildlife filming. His sole mission is `Nature Conservation Through Education’.
To make these projects worth while, he escorts photo safaris and special interest tours in India. Also, he designs and manufactures souvenirs with wildlife motifs to raise funds for the Snake Cell. To know more about Capt Suresh Sharma, click here.
Dr Rajbir Kaur Sharma: Co-Team Leader: Rajbir is a qualified homeopath by profession. She teamed up with her husband (Capt Suresh) to accomplish their mission to educate people about snakes, basically `SAVING INNOCENT SNAKES, IGNORANT PEOPLE’. She looks after the fund-raising activities, logistics, administration and is very active field-member of the team, co-ordinates the programs of the Snake Cell.
ADVISERS
Dr Indraneil Das: Adviser Natural History: Indraneil Das received his doctorate from the University of Oxford, UK for his work on ecology. He has conducted fieldwork in many countries in south and south East Asia and is the Chairman of IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) South Asian Reptile and Amphibian Specialist Group. Neil has written several books and as well as numerous research papers on wildlife and has described several new species of snakes and lizards. He has taught at the Harvard University for one year. Currently, he is conducting scientific research and teaching at the Malaysian University.
Dr. Ranjan Maheshwari: Adviser Snakebite: He has been working for the rescue of snakes and snakebite cases for more than last 10 years in Kota city of Rajasthan. Kota city is surrounded by forest and agricultural land which is a good habitat for `Big Four’, lethally venomous snakes of India. He has been helping many hospitals and healthcare centers in the medical management of snakebite cases voluntarily. His pioneer work on “physiological manifestations under venom interactions” has led to award of Ph. D. degree to him, from IIT Roorkee. Justifying his academic credentials, he has developed objective methods to identify the biting species symptomatically and has published many papers, news paper articles and delivered many lectures on this topic. He is a referee to many journals. His mission is to reduce the cost of medical management of snakebite, which is much needed in the Indian subcontinent. Currently, he is working as Associate Professor and Deputy Director (Academics) in Rajasthan Technical University, Kota (Rajasthan) INDIA.
D.N. Mazumdar: Adviser Environmental Education: In his career as a professional manager and Director of several companies, he spent his early years hunting when big game was plentiful throughout India. Long before the laws banning hunting came into being, he gave up hunting and became an ardent conservationist and served for several years on the committees of WWF, India in Calcutta and Madras. After retiring as a President of a well-known industrial company, he continued his environmental interests with an NGO in Dehradun, writing the `Endangered Valley’ for the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and fighting to save the Rajaji National Park for the further degradation. He is at present in Dehradun as Environmental Advisor to the Confederation of Indian Industry working on issues like conservation of the ecosystem and bringing about an awareness for the need of water management etc.
Piers Warren: Adviser Film and Media: Piers Warren is well known throughout the wildlife film-making industry as the editor of Wildlife Film News and producer of wildlife-film.com which he created in the 1990s. With a strong background in biology, education and conservation, he has had a lifelong passion for wildlife films and has a wide knowledge of natural history. He cut his teeth in the industry as a sound engineer and multi-media producer, running a studio for many years. He is one of the founders of the international organisation Filmmakers for Conservation and was Vice President for the first three years. Piers is the author of many magazine features and several books including Careers in Wildlife Film-making and Go Wild with Your Camcorder – How to Make Wildlife Films. Ever-keen for adventure Piers leads wildlife tours and training expeditions around the world. Amongst other things he has walked the African plains with Maasai Warriors, tracked tigers in India on elephant-back, explored the Amazon rainforest, swum with sharks, trekked across Tanzanian deserts on a camel and filmed cheetahs hunting in Kenya. Piers is the Principal of Wildeye , through which he leads wildlife tours and training expeditions around the world
We are convinced that these efforts of the dedicated team, will add a new chapter to the natural history scenario in the Indian subcontinent.