One with the wild

Praveen holds a Chihuahua, an iguana from central America and a Central Asian Shepherd Dog. He says that this breed is used by Russians to ward off polar bears, and one can’t help but notice how similar to one the dog looks like!

Praveen Chikoti is a man with many passions. The day he laid eyes on a 125-year-old Anantha Padmanabha Swamy statue in Thiruvananthapuram, he couldn’t sleep until he had it. He will now be building a temple, for which he has a 350-year-old chariot and gate. 

An albino bernese frog.

The 125-year-old Anantha Padmanabha Swamy statue around which Praveen is building a temple.

The prime attraction at the moment, is his enormous collection of exotic creatures! While he takes you around his spacious farm on the city outskirts, he talks about how his passion began. “I saw a bear show on the road when I was eight, and I wouldn’t stop crying until my father bought it for me. It was probably illegal then but the law wasn’t tight. I played with it for two days and we returned it.” This passion has grown so much, that now, he has, around 15 venomous and non-venomous spiders, four snakes, a couple of horses, more than 25 dogs, three ostriches, and a few lizards.

A gecko

A Rottweiler and a corn snake play with each other.

He says, “I procure them legally and give a lot of thought into whether they can survive in this weather. There are 25 people looking after the farm. I also used to have a kangaroo, but sadly, it passed away.”

Ali holds an Argentinian Tegu (a species belonging to the dragon family).

A Mexican redknee tarantula.

Praveen is into real estate and has no limits to his ambition.  “I’d love to keep a tiger, but I won’t get permission for that. I am in discussions to get an elephant for the temple. I have 15 spiders right now, and I would like to collect more than 100 of them,” he says. 

 

Ali, a wildlife trainer who helps Praveen, has worked with the late Saudi Arabian king Abdullah’s family and other royal families in handling their private lions and tigers.A Mexican redknee tarantula.