NIKITA DHAWAN

YOUTH FOR ANIMALS

Nikita Dhawan is a high school student at the American Embassy School in New Delhi. She has always been passionate about animal rights and environmental conservation and is the founder of an animal welfare initiative called Youth for Animals.

 

Nikita is leading the organization’s flagship campaign #FreeShankarDelhiZoo to free Shankar, an African elephant languishing in the Delhi Zoo, from his life in solitary captivity. Nikita has filed a legal petition in the Delhi High Court for Shankar’s freedom and has received almost 200,000 signatures for her online petition. The campaign has been covered extensively by Indian and International media, including BBC, ABC News, Newsweek, Financial Times, Hindustan Times, Times of India, Indian Express etc.

 

Nikita is a recipient of the prestigious Diana Award and the Youth Award from the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organization (FIAPO). Nikita is also a Youth Ambassador for Born Free Foundation and Earthday.Org and a member of IUCN’s Commission on Education and Communication (CEC).

Free Mara and Baby
Free Mara & Baby with Veronika Jancikova All About Elephants Show hosted by Nikita Dhawan   Veronika, a lawyer and animal activist, initiated a campaign for the release of Mara and Baby, two elepha...
The Robotic Elephant
The Robotic Elephant with Khushboo Gupta All About Elephants Show hosted by Nikita Dhawan   Nikita speaks with Khushboo Gupta the Director of Advocacy of Projects at People for the Ethical Treatmen...
Free Bunka with Mark Stratton
Free Bunka with Mark Stratton All About Elephants Show hosted by Nikita Dhawan   Nikita Dhawan chats with Mark Stratton, co-lead of the campaign to free Bunka, a 15 year old Asian elephant in the Y...
Elephant Haven Sanctuary
Elephant Haven Sanctuary with Sofie and Tony All About Elephants Show hosted by Nikita Dhawan   Nikita Dhawan, Founder of Youth for Animals, chats with Tony Verhulst and Sofie Goetghebeur, co-found...
Hong Kong Shark Foundation
Hong Kong Shark Foundation with Andrea Richey Water World's Show hosted by Nikita Dhawan   Nikita chats with Andrea Richey, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Shark Foundation, an organization tha...
Alana Reynolds: Human-Elephant Conflict
Human-Elephant Conflict with Alana Reynolds All About Elephants Show hosted by Nikita Dhawan   Nikita talks with Alana Reynolds, currently a student of environmental law at Stanford University, abo...
Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee
Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee with Todd Montgomery All About Elephants Show hosted by Nikita Dhawan   Nikita Dhawan talks with Todd Montgomery, Sr. Manager of External Relations for The Elephant ...
Born Free Foundation
Born Free Foundation with Chris Lewis All About Elephants Show hosted by Nikita Dhawan   Nikita interviews Chris Lewis the Captivity Research Officer at the Born Free Foundation who focuses on capt...
Rally for Animal Rights
Rally for Animal Rights with Panchali Panapiti All About Elephants Show hosted by Nikita Dhawan   Nikita Dhawan, founder of Youth for Animals, interviews Panchali Panapitiya, co-founder of RARE (Ra...