India’s Vantara centre says it will stop importing animals — Dawn

The Vantara animal rescue centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat, has said it will stop importing animals and change its approach to their protection after years of criticism over the way it built its collection. As Dawn reports, the centre has also hired international experts and intends to provide more support for wildlife directly in countries of origin.

Change in approach

Vantara CEO Vivaan Karani said the centre had changed course. According to him, if animals can be effectively helped in their own countries, the centre’s resources should be directed there rather than spent on transporting animals.

In August, Vantara, whose name translates as “Star of the Forest,” promised to respond to criticism with dialogue, transparency and evidence rather than lawsuits. The centre is closed to visitors. According to the publication, its large glass-fronted enclosures house about 200 lions, 200 cheetahs and 150 tigers, as well as elephants, giraffes, chimpanzees and orangutans.

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Questions about the animals’ origins

The initiator behind the creation of the centre is Anant Ambani, the younger son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani. Vantara occupies 3,500 acres, or 1,416 hectares, across several sites next to a Reliance oil refinery.

Vantara says it houses more than 150,000 animals of over 2,000 species brought from 30 countries. At the same time, the centre’s annual reports contain significantly lower figures — one of the details activists called on it to explain.

Vantara’s animal acquisitions have also attracted the attention of CITES, the international treaty regulating trade in wild animals. Last year, CITES said that some animals declared as captive-bred may not have been so and called for reforms to ensure that the centre does not become a factor in the illegal removal of wild animals from nature. A review ordered by India’s Supreme Court was favourable to the centre.