The Ambani’s scion’s mammoth wildlife centre was one of the main side shows at the recent pre-wedding spectacle. There is no denying the scope of this project’s ambition. But is Vantara anything more than a vanity project for the son of a fabulously wealthy family?
Tell me about this Vantara?
Origin story: According to Anant Ambani it all started when he was 12 years old—and saw a limping elephant calf being led in chains on the street:
So I told my mom, we want to rescue it. So that was the first elephant. And we had no idea how to take care of elephants. So we got the elephant, we kept it. And then we said, we’ll build slowly, slowly. Boond, boond se sagar banta hai… Today we have a highly professional team, more than 300-400 professionals, taking care of the elephants.
It began with elephants: Vantara began primarily as an elephant rescue centre—set up in Jamnagar around 2008 by Ambani Jr. According to an animal care employee:
“They wanted sick, suffering elephants from places like circuses and temples” – both notorious for mistreating the animals. Many circus elephants, for instance, suffer fractures from being constantly loaded onto and off from trucks. Temple elephants face cruelty in part due to lack of knowledge. As the animal-care staffer explained, “We call them Ganesh-baba and then feed them poori-sabzi, ghee, etcetera” – but these foods are not suitable for the species. So the Trust was set up “to provide life-time care for suffering elephants.”
But soon Anant’s ambitions became outsized—extending beyond elephants to a variety of endangered and exotic species. Today, Vantara wants to do more than just rescue animals. It aims to be the largest zoo in the world—to take the crown from the Moscow zoo—which has 24,500 animals belonging to 1,226 different species. The Ambanis are catching up in astonishingly little time.
The Vantara numbers: Today, Vantara is a full-blown elephant rescue and conservation centre spread across 3,000 acres—inside the Ambani oil refinery campus. Right next door is the Green Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre’—which is home to over 2,000 animals across 43 species. This includes everything from big cats like tigers and jaguars to deer, reptiles and lots of birds. Just the number of birds shot up from 3,889 to 4,700 in less than a year.
The variety is dizzying:
Its 2022–23 annual report lists 857 marsh crocodiles, 229 leopards, 76 “hybrid” lions and 71 tigers, more than 1200 iguanas and 225 African spurred tortoises, not to mention Nile crocodiles and saltwater crocodiles and Siamese crocodiles and gharials, grizzly bears and black bears, African lions and cheetahs, Nile hippopotamuses, chimpanzees, an orangutan and a Komodo dragon, and more.
As is the level of care showcased during the big, fat pre-shaadi to reporters:
Besides state-of-the-art shelters, scientifically designed day and night enclosures, hydrotherapy pools, water bodies, ayurveda treatment sections & a large elephant jacuzzi for treating arthritis in elephants, the centre is also home to a 25,000 sq ft elephant hospital, one of the largest in the world.
The funding: Vantara is run by a religious trust funded entirely by donations from Reliance Industries Limited as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility activity. Key Reliance officials manage the show—though Anant gets all the attention and the credit.
Interesting point to note: A report filed by a high-powered committee—appointed by the Supreme Court—to inspect Vantara says the trust was formally registered in October 2019 with the office of the Charity Commissioner in Gujarat. But, but, but this is what NewsClick found:
In response to a question filed by one of the authors in November 2022 under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the office of the Charity Commissioner of Gujarat said that no trust named Radha Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust, is registered in Jamnagar. “Till 30 November 2022, as many as 8,004 trusts and 1,435 societies have been registered with this office. A preliminary enquiry has revealed that no Trust with this name [Radha Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust] is registered with this office” stated the Jamnagar office of the Charity Commissioner.
The reporters couldn’t establish whether the trust is registered elsewhere.
Ok so what’s the problem? Ownership?
Yes, it is problematic that such a large-scale conservation effort has become a single man’s hobby. When a legal petition challenged the Ambanis’ right to parade the animals for their wedding PR show, their counsel made clear “the complex is a private property and that only a one-time private, personal and non-commercial event” was being held at various locations within it. But the more fundamental issue is that Anant’s ambitions have shifted from rescue to scale.
The collector’s disease: Anant has fallen prey to the ‘badaa banao’ disease that afflicts corporate India. Employees say the Trust was set up “to provide life-time care for suffering elephants. That has somehow changed to ‘We want numbers’.” As one conservationist puts it, Vantara has become a “stamp collection”—albeit a dizzyingly large one.
What’s notable: Anant has long been a voracious collector of animals:
What is clear is that the youngest Ambani son has long liked wildlife. He is said to have kept exotic pets at Sea-Wind, the Ambani clan’s joint home in Mumbai until Mukesh Ambani’s family moved to a mansion of their own, Antilia. More recently, the family has been erecting outbuildings for “reptiles, marsupials, [and] flightless birds” at their county estate in the United Kingdom.
There are reports of exotic pets kept in lavish style at Antilia, as well—and an aviary in Navi Mumbai—which also has a large collection of snakes. This isn’t to say that the young Ambani lacks compassion. The worry is that he has the wrong mindset.
Pilfering zoos: The desire for numbers has resulted in a number of worrying practices. The Ambanis are leaning on state zoos—with established conservation programs—to give them endangered species. Example:
In October 2020, the Central Zoo Authority had allowed the Reliance zoo to take 35 leopards from Sakkarbaug Zoo in Junagadh, Gujarat, and 25 more the following month... The Sakkarbaug zoo… spread over 207 acres, is a breeding centre for the Asiatic lion and also houses the Indian wild ass, the Asiatic cheetah and chinkara.
Another example: In 2021, the Ambanis received two black panthers from the Guwahati Zoo—in exchange for help securing four zebras from Israel. The problem: The Guwahati zoo is the only breeding centre for black panthers in the country.
From rescue to illegal trade: A Himal Magazine investigation reveals a worrying pattern in the elephant rescue centre—which has begun to import healthy animals. Contrary to Anant Ambani’s claims, many of these are in no need of rescue.
The new law: Although trade in wildlife species is banned, the government has made it extremely easy to transport elephants across state lines—thanks to a change introduced in 2021. The sweeping amendment allows the transfer of captive elephants for “religious or any other purpose.”
The outcome: Jamnagar has been procuring captive elephants from the Northeast at a breakneck speed ever since—which is bad news for the animals:
A senior forest officer in eastern Assam asked why even healthy elephants from the area were being sent to Jamnagar, well over 3000 kilometres away by road. “Even if elephants have to be removed from logging camps, they should come to the forest department, where they are needed for patrolling,” he said. “Captives will have a better life with us. They are kept in semi-wild conditions, not in sheds but out in the open. They forage. They are better socialised. They even mate with wild elephants.”
Even worse, Greens’ willingness to pay big bucks has made it attractive to capture and sell wild elephants to Jamnagar:
A set of [sold] elephants, he said, are wild-caught sub-adults. “Herds are being separated near the border, and then the sub-adults are chased into Arunachal near Jairampur.” There they are tamed, he said, and held pending the completion of paperwork.
But, but, but: Greens may be greedy and may have broken the rules. It has also done a lot of good. It bailed out an overwhelmed Madras Crocodile Bank Trust in Tamil Nadu—by taking 857 marsh crocodiles, or muggers, off its hands. These captive-born crocodiles could not be released into the wild as per Indian law. They are now homed in a world-class facility—and are “happy crocs” according to a former MCRT official.
Greens similarly rescued 60 “cocaine hippos” from Colombia—who had become a pest and were going to be culled. It also houses 250 big cats from a notorious breeding facility in Mexico. There’s plenty of good along with the bad—especially given the appalling conditions in many zoos.
The bottomline: Ambanis have stepped in to fill a real gap in rescue and rehabilitation—but also to build yet another Antilia-sized monument to their wealth. This time with animals—who have no oversight or recourse if things go wrong.
Reading list
Himal Magazine (login required) did a must-read in-depth investigation into Vantara’s methods of acquiring animals—especially elephants. Also a good read: Newsclick’s investigation which flags murky details about the trust that controls the centre. Straits Times has a more recent report. Indian Express has the basic details on the zoo. For a big picture view, read Mongabay on conservation efforts in India—and the role of zoos in The Hindu. The Wire has more on the problems with elephant reserves. Vox argues zoos are terrible at conservation, period.
