He is a snake rescuer who is fast becoming recognised as a crack herpetologist. Sameer Kehimkar is 23 years old and is happiest in the company of the kind of creepy-crawlies that other young persons shun. He attributes his love for nature to his father Isaac Kehimkar, a naturalist and nature educationist with the Bombay Natural History Society. Snake rescues came naturally to Sameer from his childhood in Navi Mumbai where people often called him to help with snakes that had entered homes and offices.

He is already a caecilian and amphibian expert and has helped conduct surveys in Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sameer also studied coral snakes in the Western Ghats. Sameer believes that good science should be the foundation for active conservation.

He has a burning desire to reach out to ordinary people and has put his knowledge of computers to good use by creating a set of five interactive CDs on reptiles, mammals, birds, insects and plant-animal associations. Sameer is also a talented natural history artist. He is tomorrow’s face for wildlife protection.