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Humans of RESQ- Nikita Mehta

June 26, 2022
by Team RESQ

Since the day she learnt how to spell the word ‘veterinarian’, at the age of ten, she announced she was going to be one. Dr. Nikita Mehta is a Wildlife Veterinarian at RESQ and is often touted to be ‘as cool as a cucumber’ owing to her ability to appear unfazed no matter how complex a situation can get.

Having grown up in Mumbai, Nikita treasured her limited interaction with animals in the city immensely as a child. She was notorious for secretly helping stray animals and also sneaking small animals into her home to be treated in her balcony. With a conviction that never faltered, Nikita started working at a private veterinarian clinic right after she completed her education, and soon realised she wanted to do more. She realised her calling for working with wildlife, which brought her from Mumbai to RESQ in Pune. The thing she loves the most about working with RESQ is the sheer adventure of unpredictability each day. She’s never one to shy away from a challenging situation and is willing to rough it out on the field with the boys! In addition to that, getting to treat and operate on various species, watching them recover and eventually getting released into the wild, brings her tremendous gratification and keeps her going. She says she can no longer imagine a life which is different from this.

A lesser known fact about Nikita is that she is a fabulous cook, who loves to experiment with various vegetables and their forms and textures to create unique recipes. She’s fondly called ’the ajgar’ (python) of the RESQ team as she is often caught basking in the sun and given an opportunity, can fall asleep anytime, anywhere.

Her most memorable experience at RESQ so far, has been where she encountered a leopard cub for the first time and nursed it back to health. The statement she swears by is, ‘Remember why you started’. When asked which animal would she like to be born as, pat comes the reply with a wink and a giggle, “a pampered fat cat living in a beautiful household.”

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