(Beth Clifton collage)
How did Wildlife SOS cofounder & experienced anti-poaching investigator Kartick Satyanarayan get caught in such a tangle?
AGRA, India––Wildlife law enforcement agents worldwide, both with government agencies and with nonprofit organizations, might take a lesson from the present plight of Wildlife SOS cofounder Kartick Satyanarayan.
In particular, Satyanarayan could probably teach quite a bit from his own example about the risks inherent in hiring poachers and traffickers to help catch more poachers and traffickers.
Satyanarayan might also offer a lesson about the legal fine line between setting up a “sting” and allegedly participating in illegal entrapment.
The most painful part of the lesson could be about “wringing off,” like a trapped animal gnawing off a limb to escape, from a situation involving a supposed “right hand man.”
But that remains to be seen.
(Wildlife SOS screenshot from video)
Who is Kartick Satyanarayan?
Among the most accomplished animal rescuers since Noah, as acknowledged even by most of his critics, Satyanarayan has built Wildlife SOS up since 1995 from his own work as a part-time volunteer for the Friendicoes humane society, headed by his wife Geeta Seshamani, responding to wildlife emergency calls in the Delhi area, to a $4.2-million-a-year organization operating sloth bear sanctuaries in four Indian states, plus sanctuaries for former working elephants in three states.
By all accounts, again including those of his vehement critics, Satyanarayan has had a leading role in ending the dancing bear industry in India, taking more than 650 sloth bears out of private hands since 2000, and reducing the number of elephants in Indian circuses from 67 to 47 since 2015.
Along the way Satyanarayan, initially working alone, undercover, has arranged countless interdictions and arrests of poachers and wildlife traffickers.
Usually this has been done in cooperation with the Uttar Pradesh state forest department, sometimes with other agencies.
(From Asian News International video).
“I am trying to help him”
As Satyanarayan himself became increasingly well-recognized, he trained and deployed an entire investigative team, now operating as the Wildlife SOS subsidiary Forest Watch.
The issue now is not what Satyanarayan has done, but rather how he and some of his team have done it, exposing themselves, Wildlife SOS, and the animals in their care to considerable financial as well as personal risk.
The question is how far explosive current allegations may go, both in court and in public opinion, particularly the opinions of donors.
“I am trying to help him,” Maneka Gandhi told ANIMALS 24-7.
A member of the Indian parliament from 1988 to 2024, serving in cabinet positions under four Indian national governments, Maneka Gandhi also founded People for Animals in 1992, the first and largest Indian national animal advocacy organization.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“The problem is the incentive”
A lifelong friend of Friendicoes humane society director and Wildlife SOS cofounder Geeta Seshamani, Maneka Gandhi herself personally introduced ANIMALS 24-7 to Seshamani and Satyanarayan in 1997.
“The problem,” Maneka Gandhi told ANIMALS 24-7 by email on August 17, 2026, “is the incentive [that Satyanarayan allegedly offered to poachers] to kill more animals so that he could get more poachers caught. It’s a slippery slope.”
Explained Jay Mazoomdaar, among the senior journalists in India on wildlife and habitat news beats, for The Indian Express on August 17, 2026, “Investigators have found that a seasoned wildlife contraband trader and his associate, arrested by the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force over an alleged big cat poaching operation on July 23, 2026, were on the payroll” of Wildlife SOS.
Boar & python
The alleged trafficker, Bhagwan Singh, or at least someone by that name in the same general area, has a rap sheet known to ANIMALS 24-7 dating back at least to 2006, when he was reportedly in trouble over possession of a python.
“Belonging to the hunter community of Mogya, from Madhya Pradesh state,” according to The Hindu, Bhagwan Singh was arrested in December 2010 for allegedly poaching wild boar near the Chambal Crocodile Sanctuary in Rajasthan state.
Dharmendra Khandal of the conservation organization Tiger Watch told Sunny Sebastian, then reporting for The Hindu, later vice-vhancellor of the Haridev Joshi University of Journalism in Jaipur, that Bhagwan Singh’s gang had “killed at least 10 wild boars in the area in the past three days.”
Fake ID
Singh, reported Anurag Dwary for the television network NDTV, when arrested in the current case, “had acquired a fake identity: Salim,” to be used “should he be caught by authorities carrying out illegal activities.
“Sources have said that people linked to Wildlife SOS had allegedly helped Singh acquire his fake identity,” Dwary continued. “Investigators are now trying to verify who gave Bhagwan the alias, where and how it was used, and what exactly his relationship was” with Wildlife SOS.
The one source Dwary identified was Samita Rajora, the first female chief of the Madhya Pradesh state wildlife department.
(Wildlife SOS photo)
Wildlife SOS director busted
The alleged “associate” of Bhagwan Singh whom Mazoomdaar mentioned, busted with Singh by the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force, was Wasim Akram, director of sustainability and special projects for Wildlife SOS..
Bhagwan Singh “and his accomplice Wasim,” wrote Mazoomdaar, “are said to have told investigators they were acting on the instructions of Satyanarayan.
“Investigators claim to have gathered ‘substantial digital evidence’ tying [Singh] to an operation they believe was run ‘for personal gains,'” Mazoomdaar reported and Dwary confirmed.
“They are examining whether Satyanarayan ‘organized poaching and staged seizures’ to build his and the Wildlife SOS anti-poaching profile, and whether he was also involved in wildlife trafficking,” Mazoomdaar said.
Leopard pelts & leghold traps
The allegations originated, according to Mazoomdaar, “when four poachers were arrested on the Gwalior-Agra highway with ten leopard skins. At the time, Wildlife SOS credited months of surveillance by its own Forest Watch anti-poaching unit for the bust.
“But because the pelts had originated in Madhya Pradesh, the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force opened a parallel probe,” Mazoomdaar explained.
“Field investigations in the Shivpuri and Morena forests turned up multiple sites where leopard remains were buried; these have been sent to the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun for DNA matching against the skins seized” on July 23, 2026, Mazoomdaar detailed.
“Investigators also recovered three leghold traps,” Mazoomdaar said.
Where did the traps come from?
Elaborated Dwary, “Investigators are now trying to establish who manufactured or supplied the traps, how they entered Madhya Pradesh, and whether their movement reveals another layer of the interstate network. The investigation is therefore no longer confined to the men who allegedly placed the snares. It is probing the roles of suppliers, accomplices, and handlers.”
“This trail,” Mazoomdaar wrote, “led the investigators to Bhagwan Singh and, through him, to Wasim Akram. The Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force picked up Bhagwan Singh on August 11, 2026, and Wasim on August 13, 2026.”
Singh, “a wildlife trader with a long history, turned out to be on the payroll of Wildlife SOS for at least five years,” Mazoomdaar said, citing but not naming “a senior Madhya Pradesh forest official,” who may have been Samita Rajora––or not.
“Why did they continue until 10 leopards were killed?”
“According to sources familiar with the investigation,” Mazoomdaar continued, “Singh and his accomplices scouted forest areas around Shivpuri and Morena in a Wildlife SOS vehicle — now in Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force custody — and distributed leghold traps sourced from Haryana state to hand-picked local hunters.
“It was Singh, sources said, who arranged for four poachers to carry the 10 leopard skins to a decoy buyer where Uttar Pradesh police made the arrests.
“This network started poaching leopards in the Shivpuri area last year,” the anonymous source told Mazoomdaar. “If it was indeed an undercover operation to nab poachers, why did they continue until 10 leopards had been killed?”
Cheetahs
Noted Dwary, “The men were allegedly operating in the very landscape where India has reintroduced cheetahs after their extinction from the country more than seven decades ago. And sources associated with the investigation claim the poachers could not reliably distinguish between a leopard and a cheetah.
“The heavy iron traps hidden in these forests do not recognize species. And if a cheetah stepped into one, investigators fear the result could have been the same — their death.”
“Singh’s arrest is reviving scrutiny of an earlier case,” Mazoomdaar said, also involving “Singh, with Wasim, in 2023, when a tiger skin, a leopard skin, and a tiger skeleton were seized, according to Tamil Nadu forest department sources. Wildlife SOS claimed credit then, too, for both the seizure and the poachers’ subsequent conviction.”
(Wildlife SOS photo)
Satyanarayan responds
Responded Satyanarayan, to Mazoomdaar, “Wildlife SOS is a law-abiding organization that has worked closely with law enforcement agencies throughout its 32-year history to combat poaching and support wildlife rescue and rehabilitation.
“We work with law enforcement agencies across several states in India for a range of purposes, including wildlife crime prevention, rescue, and conservation,” Satyanarayan said. “We remain committed to fully supporting all legitimate investigations and lawful processes.
“We are not privy to any material–digital evidence–you [Mazoomdaar] are referring to. None of this alleged material has been shared with me or with Wildlife SOS,” Satyanarayan testified, “so I cannot comment on its contents or authenticity. If such material is placed before us through due process of law, we will examine it and respond appropriately.”
Satyanarayan responded at greater length two days later via The Pioneer, published from multiple Indian cities since 1865. To The Pioneer, Satyanarayan cited “a track record of 32 years of wildlife conservation in 19 states, credited with rescuing over 5,31,000 animals [including birds] in coordination with [state] forest departments.”
“Another reason why the investigation is sensitive”
Said Satyanarayan, “This is shocking, and we are deeply concerned,” claiming that allegations had been “flung with absolutely no basis.”
Added The Pioneer, “Treating legitimate anti-poaching intelligence work as wildlife crime could have a chilling effect on future wildlife enforcement,” Satyanarayan suggested.
Mentioned Dwary, “There is another reason the investigation is sensitive. Wildlife SOS has had an association with Madhya Pradesh’s Forest Department, including work at Van Vihar in Bhopal,” the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, where one of the Wildlife SOS sloth bear sanctuaries is located, with a lease soon due for renewal.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Could anyone within the [wildlife] department itself be under suspicion?” Dwary asked.
“Rajora categorically separated the two. She said the Van Vihar arrangement concerned bears rescued from [dancing bear acts] and stressed that neither the facility nor its staff had any connection with the present investigation.”
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Those unable to speak, and to defend themselves, will always attract the attention of the unscrupulous.
The mention of Bhopal immediately brought to mind the notorious and still unresolved Bhopal disaster, which took hundreds of thousands of human lives and involved international players including some very familiar domestic corporations.
The more things change, the more they stay the same…or worsen.
Thanking you for continuing to cover these truly deplorable events and players. As powerless as we are to change them, the least we can do is acknowledge them and share them with those who may not know.
Summarizes Wikipedia: “On 3 December 1984, over 500,000 people in the vicinity of the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, were exposed to the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate, in what is considered the world’s worst industrial disaster. A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused approximately 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. Estimates vary on the death toll, with the official number of immediate deaths being 2,259. Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks of the incident occurring, and another 8,000 or more died from gas-related diseases. In 1989, Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) of the United States paid $470 million (equivalent to $1.03 billion in 2024) to settle litigation stemming from the disaster.”
It has to be seen if Bhagwan Singh was pressured or tortured to accept those allegations made by Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force or Madhya Pradesh police. Police often uses 3rd degree torturers to make people accept such accusations.