ngos urge vantara to halt all wild animal imports indefinitely
A coalition of 27 wildlife‑conservation and animal‑welfare NGOs has called on Vantara, the billionaire‑run private zoo in Jamnagar, Gujarat, to end permanently the import of wild animals.
Source: Mongabay · September 26, 2026 at 7:02 AM · AI-assisted report
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KUALA LUMPUR, 26 SEPTEMBER 2026 —
A coalition of 27 wildlife‑conservation and animal‑welfare NGOs has called on Vantara, the billionaire‑run private zoo in Jamnagar, Gujarat, to end permanently the import of wild animals.
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The groups say the facility has already taken in roughly 60,000 live wild animals representing more than 2,000 species, many of them critically endangered, and they want the imports stopped “indefinitely” rather than the one‑year moratorium Vantara announced earlier this year.
Vantara opened in 2025 as a 3,500‑acre nonprofit funded by the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, the country’s largest corporation. The zoo is owned by the Ambani family, with Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, presiding over its inauguration. It is not open to the public and functions as a private collection of rescued and acquired wildlife, a model that has drawn intense scrutiny from both national and international observers.
On 19 August 2026 Vantara issued a press statement pledging a voluntary 12‑month moratorium on all animal imports, back‑dated to 5 June 2026. The statement said the zoo had withdrawn every pending import application and would not file new ones.
After the moratorium, Vantara said it would accept animals only from “a recognised and accredited zoological facility,” a “CITES‑registered facility,” or for “a conservation breeding programme undertaken in cooperation with a range State.” It also announced an “independent” governing council led by former CITES Secretary‑General John Scanlon AO and a mandatory three‑stage review for future acquisitions.
The NGOs’ open letter, dated 22 September 2026 and addressed to Amit Aggarwal, president of regulatory affairs at Vantara, offers “suggestions for strengthening your practices and improving outcomes.” The coalition’s signatories include Pro Wildlife, Born Free, the Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation and a host of other groups.
“After years of criticism over its practices, Vantara has promised a change of course — we’ll be watching closely to see whether words are followed by action,” wrote Daniela Freyer of Pro Wildlife in an email to Mongabay.
Investigations by the CITES Secretariat have flagged irregularities in Vantara’s acquisition records, suggesting possible illegal wildlife trade involving specimens from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Secretariat’s inspection noted “possible illegal wildlife trade” but India’s Supreme Court later found no evidence of wrongdoing. Vantara has consistently denied that any of its animals were obtained illegally, maintaining that each animal is part of a rescue or rehabilitation effort.
Pro Wildlife estimates that Vantara’s imports include around 60,000 live wild animals from more than 2,000 species, among them Spix’s macaws (Cyanopsitta spixii) extinct in the wild, critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) and Galápagos iguanas that have never been legally exported from the archipelago.
“The acquisition of tens of thousands of live wild animals by Vantara from all over the world in recent years, many under questionable circumstances, has been a cause for international concern,” said Will Travers OBE, executive president of Born Free, also a signatory to the letter.