More about Aniruddha

Dr. Aniruddha Belsare is a veterinarian by training, and has worked as a small animal practitioner in India for more than 10 years. He also worked as a zoo veterinarian in Pune zoo). Initially his wildlife work was limited to immobilization of wild animals for various interventions (rescue, radio collaring, treatment, etc.); but he was bitten by the ‘disease’ bug during the course of these projects. He pursued the 'Demographics and disease ecology of free-ranging dogs in rural India'. This project includes conducting mass vaccination campaigns for the study populations, and monitoring the effects of mass vaccination on the dog demographic parameters that underpin population growth rates. This project will provide data for further studies examining the ecological role of dogs in poorly studied tropical ecosystems as well as studies of the role of pathogens in limiting host populations.