India, May 25 -- There wasn't an injured great Indian bustard, chinkara or vulture that Radheshyam Bishnoi heard of that he wouldn't go out of his way to help. Bishnoi, 28, was a passionate conservationist, as good as they come. His work in and around the Thar desert in Rajasthan has been instrumental in protecting the lives and often-overlooked habitats of some of India's most vulnerable animals, particularly the critically endangered great Indian bustard (GIB).

The desert was Radheshyam Bishnoi's life. On Friday, his life tragically ended when his jeep collided head-on with a truck on National Highway 11. Bishnoi and his fellow passengers - conservationist Shyamlal Bishnoi, one Kawaraj Singh Bhadaria who runs a gaushala, and forest sta...