This man protects animals by stuffing them

Taxidermist Santosh Gaikwad is the only person authorised by the Indian government to stuff wild animals. Photos: AFP

When Santosh Gaikwad, India’s last-known practising taxidermist, first started stuffing animals 13 years ago he would keep dead birds in his family’s freezer at home, much to his wife’s consternation.

Now, as the head of India’s only taxidermy centre, he enjoys the use of two deep freezers large enough to hold a lion, at the government-run workshop in Mumbai’s national park.