Counting crocodiles for conservation
                    
Our Team

Advisors

Dhaval Patel
He is the founder and managing trustee of Voluntary Nature Conservancy. Since 1988, he has been actively involved in environment education, awareness, and protection protection, and has more than 20 years of experience in educating the public. He is co-opted member of Animal Welfare Board of India, and is appointed as Honorary Wildlife Warden for Anand district. He is an active part of the crocodile research team at VNC, and assists in developing educational programs for creating awareness about crocodiles.
Dr. Raju Vyas
Dr. Vyas has over 30 years of extensive research and field experience in various herpetological projects and has been carrying out extensive assessment and mitigation of human mugger conflicts in the Gujarat state. He is the Joint Vice Chair of the IUCN/SSC/ Crocodile Specialist Group - South Asia and Iran, and a member of the IUCN/SSC South Asian Amphibian and Reptile Specialist Group and IUCN/SSC/ Conservation Breeding Specialist Group.

Organizing Team

Anirudh Vasava
He works as a project coordinator with VNC where he develops research and conservation projects. He is a member of the SSC/IUCN - Crocodile Specialist Group, and manages the crocodile research and conservation initiative at VNC. He developed and formalised the “Charotar Crocodile Count”, and has been successfully coordinating the program for the last six years.
Mehul Patel
He is actively involved in the mitigation of urban HWC since 2009. He has provided reptile education to more than a lakh of people in both urban and rural regions of Charotar. As, a part of crocodile research team, he has conducted several educational programs for creating awareness about crocodile.
Vishal Mistry
He has been involved in wildlife rescue and rehabitation and has broad experience as research assistance in various projects. He has assisted in surveys of carnivores in and vulture population in various parts of Gujarat. In the past he has worked with prestigious organisations such as the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and Wildlife Institute of India.
Nikhil Parekh
Nikhil has been a part of Voluntary Nature Conservancy for more than 7 years now. He started as a volunteer is now working with VNC, helping the organisation in its efforts of imparting environment education to school students across the nation.
Urvi Dave
She has completed her Bachelor's Degree and Masters' Degree in Zoology. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Zoology and has been working on different types of ecological behavior of marsh crocodiles. She has been associated with Voluntary Nature Conservancy for over eight years now.
Pradhyuman Sindha
He is working as Project Biologist with VNC. He has completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science and a master's Degree in Bio-Diversity. Previously, he has worked for Salim Ali Center For Ornithology, wildlife institute of India, wildlife conservation society for its Great Indian bustard program. His work at Voluntary Nature Conservancy (VNC) involved Field data collection and carrying out crocodile population and nesting area surveys using UAVs and developing protocols for crocodile monitoring by UAV.