My research career started in the year 2000, with a small project with the Wildlife Trust of India as a volunteer veterinarian, involving health monitoring and translocation of blackbuck and chital to Asola Wildlife Sanctuary, New Delhi. At WII, I carried out a pre-dissertation rapid survey for the Ladakh urial ((Ovis vignei vignei), an endemic and threatened species of wild sheep, in Western Ladakh, India. For my Master’s dissertation I worked on the interactions between Ladakh urial and livestock. I studied population structure, resource availability and use patterns for urial and sympatric livestock.

In 2004, I joined the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), India, as part of the collaborative project between BNHS and the Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB), UK, investigating the role of the veterinary drug Diclofenac as a cause of vulture mortalities across India and South-East Asia.

Later, as part of a local NGO based out of Chennai (Group for Nature Preservation & Education), from 2004 to 2010, I continued working in Ladakh on projects involving intensive surveys for Ladakh urial, including distribution and abundance, habitat and resource availability and use, and potential for competition with livestock in the entire urial range. I also initiated a pilot study on the incidence and prevalence of parasitic diseases of livestock and wildlife in eastern Ladakh (Changthang

For my doctoral research, I investigated the transmission dynamics of pneumonia (disease and pathogens) in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Pneumonia has led to 75-90% mortality in bighorns herds over the past few decades. Initial all-age die-offs transition into an enzootic disease in subsequent years, leading to recurrent lamb deaths. In most herds, lamb recruitment is reduced drastically (<10%), sometimes for up to a decade. By experimental manipulation of disease transmission patterns to mimic those seen in the wild, I tried to understand how pneumonia affects lamb survival and recruitment and the patterns of herd susceptibility to these organisms. I used a combination of experimental, observational and mathematical methods to understand how pneumonia affects lambs differently compared to adults.

After my PhD, I worked for two years at the Colombian Corporation for Agriculture (AGROSAVIA) as scientist in Animal Health and Epidemiology and initiated a multi-year project titled “An integrated approach to health and productivity in the production system of Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)”. The project involved surveillance for diseases that affect the buffalo production system in Colombia and drivers that might affect disease occurrence and prevalence including socio-economics, nutrition, animal welfare and management, soil and water quality and environmental attributes of farms.

At WII, I work on projects investigating epidemiology and ecology of diseases of wildlife and sympatric livestock, especially under the One Health perspective; wildlife-livestock-human interactions; sustainable development; mountain ungulates and high altitude ecosystems.

Apart from my research activities, I have veterinary experience with a wide range of domestic and wild animals, including large carnivores, as also training and experience in wildlife immobilization, capture, restraint, handling, medicine and husbandry, field investigation of wildlife disease and mortality and emergency and disaster preparedness and management. I have managed housing, care, capture, restraint and husbandry of captive-born and wild-caught bighorn sheep and hand-reared bighorn lambs. Apart from this, I have experience developing SOPs involving ethical and humane treatment and use of wild and domestic animals in experimental studies under various institutional animal care committees. For all my projects, I have collaborated with various Wildlife and Animal Husbandry Departments, specialized laboratories, governmental and non-governmental organizations, producers and livestock owners, as well as industry.

Publications:

• Bavananthasivam, J., Shanthalingam, S., Kugadas, A., Raghavan, B., et al. 2018. Beta-hemolysis may not be a reliable indicator of leukotoxicity of Mannheimia haemolytica isolates. Toxins. 10(5): 173.
• Raghavan B., Bavananthasivam J., Kugadas A., Haldorson G.J., Srikumaran S. 2017. Effect of vaccination against pneumonia on the survival of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) commingled with carrier animals. Veterinary Microbiology. 203: 56-61.
• Raghavan, B., Erickson, K., Kugadas, A., Batra, S., Call, D., et al. 2016. Role of carriers in the transmission of pneumonia in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Biology Open. 5: 745-755.
• Batra, S.A, Shanthalingam, S., Munske, G., Raghavan, B., et al. 2015. Acylation enhances, but is not required for, the cytotoxic activity of Mannheimia haemolytica leukotoxin. Infection & Immunity. 83(10): 3982-3988.
• Shanthalingam, S., Goldy, A., Bavananthasivam, J.,Subramaniam, R., Batra, S.A.,Kugadas, A., Raghavan, B., et al. 2014. PCR assay detects Mannheimia haemolytica in culture-negative pneumonic lung tissues of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) from the outbreaks of 2009-10. Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 50: 1-10.
• Subramaniam, R., Shanthalingam, S., Bavananthasivam, J., Kugadas, A., Raghavan, B., et al. 2014. Bighorn sheep x domestic sheep hybrids survive Mannheimia haemolytica challenge in the absence of vaccination. Veterinary Microbiology.  170: 278-83.
• Green, R.E., Taggart, M.A., Senacha, K.R., Raghavan, B., et al. 2007. Rate of Decline of the Oriental White-Backed Vulture Population in India Estimated from a Survey of Diclofenac Residues in Carcasses of Ungulates. PLoS ONE 2(8): e686. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000686.
• Taggart, M.A., Senacha, K.R., Green, R.E., Jhala, Y.V., Raghavan, B., et al. (2007). Diclofenac residues in carcasses of domestic ungulates available to vultures in India. Environ Int. 33(6): 759-65.