Empathy for every species: One vet student’s road to wildlife and conservation work

On this episode of the Vet Blast Podcast, host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, sits down with dvm360 Student Ambassador Ajay Sawant, a veterinary intern and marine conservationist. Christman and Sawant dig into the connections between animals, ecosystems, and veterinary medicine, and Sawant explains how growing up beside the Arabian Sea shaped his path toward wildlife and conservation medicine.

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: What made you become interested in wildlife and environmental work?

Ajay Sawant: I was brought up in Mumbai, which is surrounded by the ocean. In my early childhood, I absolutely loved exploring the wild beaches of the Arabian Sea. I started seeing that plastics were replacing seashells, and during oil spills, there would be fish on the beach that were all dead. So, I was seeing how the environment around us was being destroyed by human impacts, which was really saddening to me. That was the reason I started learning and exploring pathways into conservation, beginning with the ocean. Then I realized that wildlife in general is my passion, which got me into conservation.

Want to hear the rest of the conversation? You can listen above or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Editor’s note: As of this recording, Sawant was a veterinary intern at Apollo College of Veterinary Medicine.