Wildlife Trust of India

The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is an Indian wildlife-conservation organisation established in 1998 in response to a series of severe pressures on the country’s wild animals and habitats. It is based in New Delhi and works in cooperation with India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, state forest and wildlife departments, local administrations, communities and international conservation partners. Rather than operating as a consumer-facing product brand, WTI functions as an action-oriented conservation institution whose public identity is built around field programmes, wildlife rescue, habitat protection, species recovery, enforcement support and conservation education. WTI’s work extends across more than 45 projects in 23 Indian states, covering geographically and ecologically diverse areas. Its programme locations include the Pir Panjal mountains of Kashmir, mangrove ecosystems in Kannur, Himalayan black-bear landscapes in Arunachal Pradesh, elephant corridors, coral reefs and whale-shark aggregation grounds off Gujarat. The organisation’s stated mission is to conserve nature, with particular attention to endangered species and threatened habitats, while working in partnership with communities and government agencies. Its principal areas of activity are organised around several broad conservation concepts. Wild Aid provides focused financial and technical assistance for emergencies and emerging conservation problems, including distressed-animal responses, pilot interventions and public attention to urgent conservation issues. Wild Rescue addresses the displacement and welfare of individual wild animals through rehabilitation centres, mobile veterinary services and an Emergency Relief Network. The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation near Kaziranga in Assam is operated with the Assam Forest Department and supported financially by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation in Arunachal Pradesh is a specialised facility for Asiatic black bears, jointly operated with the state government and supported by IFAW. Species Recovery combines population monitoring, conservation breeding, translocation, reintroduction and restocking. Reported interventions include work on wild buffalo, eastern swamp deer, cheer pheasants and markhor. Protected Area Recovery seeks to improve the ecological function of selected protected areas through habitat work, species management, training for frontline staff, community engagement and legal or policy interventions. A prominent long-running effort is the Bring Back Manas programme, undertaken with IFAW, the Bodoland Territorial Council and the Assam Forest Department to help restore Manas National Park after the damage associated with prolonged militancy. WTI also works on human-wildlife conflict. Its model uses multidisciplinary Rapid Response Teams combining biological, veterinary and social expertise, alongside local Primary Response Teams and state authorities. The organisation’s enforcement and law work supports wildlife-crime control, field intelligence, seizures, investigations, prosecution assistance and legal intervention. It has reported assistance in cases involving illegal trade in items such as tiger parts, ivory, shahtoosh, bear bile and mongoose hair. Through its Wild Lands and Right of Passage activities, WTI seeks to secure habitats outside conventional protected-area boundaries and maintain ecological connectivity. Projects have addressed mangroves, wetlands, grasslands, coral reefs, sacred or community-associated landscapes and wildlife corridors. In partnership with government and other organisations, it has identified and surveyed elephant corridors across 11 Indian states. Public engagement is handled in part through the Natural Heritage Campaign, which aims to change perceptions of wildlife and build broader community participation in conservation. WTI is therefore best understood as a conservation-services and civil-society institution rather than a commercial goods brand. Its operating model combines field action, institutional partnerships, scientific and veterinary expertise, community work, legal assistance and advocacy. The organisation remains active, although specific current executives, financial information and a complete programme-by-programme chronology are not established by the supplied reference material.

Wildlife Trust of India was established in 1998 against a background of escalating threats to Indian wildlife and natural habitats. From its beginning, the organisation adopted a partnership-based model, working with central and state government authorities rather than treating conservation as an activity separate from public administration. Its work has developed across multiple landscapes and species, linking emergency animal care with longer-term habitat and population recovery. A major part of WTI’s institutional development has been the creation of specialist wildlife-care capacity. The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation in Assam was developed and operated with the Assam Forest Department, with financial support from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The facility provides care and rehabilitation for displaced or injured wildlife. WTI and its partners also established the Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation in Arunachal Pradesh, described as India’s first specialised rehabilitation centre for Asiatic black bears. These facilities form part of a wider Wild Rescue approach that includes mobile veterinary services and an Emergency Relief Network for responding to wildlife emergencies in different parts of the country. The organisation’s work subsequently expanded into species recovery. Its methods include surveys, monitoring, intensive management, conservation breeding, translocation, reintroduction and restocking. Among the examples associated with WTI are efforts concerning the last remaining wild-buffalo subspecies in central India, the restoration of eastern swamp deer in Manas through movement of animals from Kaziranga, restocking of cheer pheasant habitat in Himachal Pradesh and surveys confirming markhor in additional areas of Jammu and Kashmir. WTI has also developed landscape-scale protected-area programmes. Since 2003, its Bring Back Manas initiative, conducted with IFAW, the Bodoland Territorial Council and the Assam Forest Department, has worked to restore the ecological and institutional condition of Manas National Park after extensive damage during periods of militancy in the late twentieth century. Related protected-area work has included intervention in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve and support for the expansion or demarcation of protected areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Another strand of WTI’s history concerns wildlife crime and the legal protection of species. Its Enforcement and Law work assists enforcement agencies with information, field support, training, seizure operations and prosecution or litigation. The organisation has reported involvement in more than 275 seizures involving a range of wildlife products and has provided assistance in high-profile wildlife-crime matters. This activity complements its conservation work by addressing the commercial and criminal pressures that threaten endangered species. WTI has increasingly framed habitat protection around connectivity and areas outside the formal protected-area network. Its Wild Lands activities include projects involving the Garo landscape in Meghalaya, Kannur mangroves in Kerala, sarus-crane habitat in Uttar Pradesh, coral-reef recovery in Gujarat and threatened cat habitat in Arunachal Pradesh. The Right of Passage programme focuses on securing movement corridors for elephants and other large mammals. Working with Project Elephant, state forest departments, scientists and non-governmental organisations, WTI has identified and surveyed functional elephant corridors across 11 states. The organisation’s public-facing conservation work is coordinated in part through the Natural Heritage Campaign, which seeks to improve public perceptions of wildlife and connect conservation action with community participation. Across its history, WTI has consequently operated as a broad conservation platform: it responds to individual animals in distress, supports species and habitat recovery, works against illegal wildlife trade, advises or assists public agencies, and communicates the value of India’s natural heritage. The supplied sources do not identify a founder, current leadership roster, detailed annual financial history or a definitive account of all programme launch dates.

• 2003

  Bring Back Manas conservation work begins

  [1]Wildlife Trust of Indiaen.wikipedia.org

  WTI and partners began a long-term effort to restore Manas National Park after ecological damage associated with militancy.

• 1998

  Wildlife Trust of India established

  [1]Wildlife Trust of Indiaen.wikipedia.org

  WTI was founded in response to mounting threats facing India’s wildlife and wild habitats.

An action-led Indian wildlife-conservation institution that combines field science, animal rescue, habitat protection, enforcement support, legal intervention, community participation and government partnerships.

• Wildlife rehabilitation

  Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation

  A wildlife-care facility near Kaziranga in Assam operated by WTI with the Assam Forest Department and supported financially by IFAW. It forms part of WTI’s response to displaced, injured and otherwise distressed wild animals, combining veterinary care, rehabilitation and conservation-oriented release or management decisions.

• Wildlife rehabilitation

  Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation

  A specialised Asiatic black-bear rehabilitation facility near Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. It is jointly operated by WTI and the state environment and forest authorities, with financial support from IFAW, and is intended to improve the welfare and conservation prospects of rescued or displaced bears.

• Emergency conservation assistance

  Wild Aid

  WTI’s short-term emergency and innovation-oriented conservation arm. Wild Aid provides targeted financial or technical support, responds to urgent wildlife problems, pilots new approaches and brings public attention to conservation crises. The supplied material states that it has supported more than 400 projects in India.

• Wildlife rescue and veterinary services

  Wild Rescue

  A programme area focused on animals displaced from their habitats or unable to survive normally in them. It combines rehabilitation centres, mobile veterinary units and the Emergency Relief Network, with the broader objective of improving wildlife welfare while advancing evidence-based rehabilitation and wildlife-health practice.

• Wildlife-corridor conservation

  Right of Passage

  A habitat-connectivity programme focused especially on elephant corridors and coexistence between people and large mammals. WTI works with Project Elephant, state forest departments, scientists, other conservation groups and corridor communities to identify, survey and protect routes needed for animal movement.

• 2003Bring Back Manas

  India · Assam

  A landscape-recovery initiative for Manas National Park undertaken with IFAW, the Bodoland Territorial Council and the Assam Forest Department. The programme addresses habitat and wildlife damage connected with prolonged militancy and seeks to restore the park’s ecological and management functions.

  Outcome. The programme became a long-running model of protected-area recovery and multi-institutional conservation partnership.

  Source
• Natural Heritage Campaign

  India

  WTI’s public-engagement and communications platform, designed to improve perceptions of wildlife and connect conservation action with community participation.

  Source

1. 1Wildlife Trust of Indiaen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Wildlife Trust of India official websitewti.org.in