South African animal protection group seeks probe into export of wildlife to Gujarat’s Vantara zoo

The Wildlife Animal Protection Forum of South Africa has urged the country’s environment ministry to investigate the export of several wild animals to the Vantara animal rescue and rehabilitation centre in Gujarat’s Jamnagar.

Vantara, which is owned by the Ambani family-led Reliance Industries, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 4.

The WAPFSA is a coalition of 30 South African organisations that work with the government on matters such as protecting wild animals and conserving their natural environments.

In a letter to South African Environment Minister Dion George on March 6, the WAPFSA said that it was “aware that legitimate concerns have been raised within CITES regarding the large amount of different live species of wild animals that are being imported to [Vantara]”.

CITES, or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, is a multilateral treaty that regulates the international trade of endangered animals and plants.

WAPFSA told the ministry that a case for “India’s potential non-compliance” had been discussed at a meeting of the CITES standing committee in November 2023. The secretariat had received information about importing live animals into India, including specimens of critically endangered species, the coalition added.

In July 2023, representatives of the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, or Vantara, explained to officials at the CITES secretariat...

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