Second Nature

Pune-based conservation biologist Pooja Bhale has made it her mission to protect the planet. Nikita Sawant catches up with the green crusader

- Nikita Sawant

What decided the course of Pooja Bhale’s life was the book Mora by Mulk Raj Anand, in which a baby elephant’s father gets shot and mother poached. After having the book read to her several times over by her mother, Bhale started dreaming of going to the jungle. Sensing her curiosity about wildlife and nature, her mother started sending a young Bhale to nature camps and trails, where she found the life she always wanted.

Growing up in Pune, Bhale attended Fergusson College, where she further nurtured her interest. Many a time, she would bunk college and volunteer at the snake park in the city. After completing class 12, she left for the UK to pursue a bachelor’s degree in animal biology and wildlife conservation. Bhale says, “We had a gap year to go out and work. I came back to India and started working at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai as a junior researcher. After graduation, I took up a job with the Wildlife Conservation Society of India in Delhi.”