Shreyas Vijay (connect on LinkedIn) is a highly accomplished wildlife biology scholar with a Master’s degree in Wildlife Conservation Action from BVIEER, Pune. He is serving as a Global Assessor for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Small Cat Specialist Group and is a member of the Indian Zoological Society. He has previously worked with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and was actively associated with the Institute of National History Education and Research (INHER).
In 2022, Shreyas worked with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) at its headquarters in New Delhi as part of the Communications, Marketing, and Campaigns Department. His role involved managing and creating content for social media platforms, maintaining the organization’s website, handling and organizing company data, and analysing reports. He also contributed to corporate communications and assisted in collaborations and outreach initiatives for the department. The position provided him with extensive experience in digital communications, content development, data management, and strategic coordination within one of India’s leading wildlife conservation organisations.
Recently he worked as a Data Manager and Analyst at The Grasslands Trust (TGT), contributing to the conservation of the endangered Indian grey wolf and its habitat across the Deccan Plateau of Maharashtra. His work primarily focused on Indian grey wolves, striped hyenas, and other species associated with grassland ecosystems. In this role, he utilized data-driven approaches to support wildlife conservation by managing, organizing, and analysing large ecological datasets, developing predictive models, and collaborating with experts to guide conservation strategies and decision-making. His responsibilities also included extensive fieldwork such as wildlife tracking, monitoring, and camera trapping.
His research focuses on Indian wildlife, particularly the conservation of lesser Felidae. In 2019, Shreyas founded the Caracal Conservation and Research Project (CCARP) to study and safeguard caracals and their ecosystem. His dedication to this field began in 2016, following an unexpected encounter with a caracal. Since then, he has built one of the largest databases on caracals and developed comprehensive study maps across mainland India. His master’s thesis identifies suitable habitats for caracals in western India.
Shreyas Vijay is currently the Founder and Director of the Caracal Conservation and Research Project (CCARP), operating from Gujarat and actively advancing caracal conservation efforts across India in collaboration with the Indian Government.