Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation on Monday announced the launch of their Vantara (Star of the Forest) programme, an umbrella initiative to focus on the rescue, treatment, care and rehabilitation of injured, abused and threatened animals, both in India and abroad. The Vantara initiative, the first-of-its-kind in India, has been conceptualised and birthed under the passionate leadership of Anant Ambani, director on the boards of RIL and Reliance Foundation.
Anant, who is getting ready for pre-wedding festivities with his fiancee Radhika Merchant from March 1 to March 3 in Gujarat’s Jamnagar, has taken up the ambitious project of opening the world’s largest animal rescue and rehabilitation centre. He spoke exclusively with CNN-News18’s Anand Narasimhan on Monday and shared how his mother, philanthropist Nita Ambani, has been a big influence.
“So my mother has always been a great inspiration to me. My mother, when I was a young boy and we were going, I was, I think, 12 years old, we were travelling from Jaipur to Ranthambore. In the middle, on the road, we saw a young elephant with a ‘mahavat’ in the peak heat, and the elephant was walking a little weirdly," he said. “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. At that time we did not even know what to feed the elephant. We would do what the ‘mahavat’ says. We had no scientific knowledge. We built scientific knowledge over a period of, I think, a decade and more. Today we have a highly professional team, more than 300-400 professionals, taking care of the elephants."
Housed within the Green Belt of Reliance’s Jamnagar Refinery Complex in Gujarat, Vantara aims to be one of the leading contributors to conservation efforts globally. By working with leading experts in animal care and welfare, Vantara has converted a sprawling space into a jungle-like environment that mimics the natural, enriching, lush and verdant habitat for the rescued species to thrive in.
Today, the Vantara ecosystem has provided a new lease of life and hope to over 200 elephants, more than 300 large felines such as leopards, tigers, lions, and jaguars, etc, around 300 herbivores like deer and about 1,200 reptiles such as crocodiles, snakes, and turtles.
“My mother, mostly rescued Gauri, our first elephant. And my mother, as you know, is my biggest inspiration. And I think Gauri is our favourite amongst the family. And my brother’s son Prithvi, his only vacation is Jamnagar. So whenever he gets up, my whole family’s vacation point is Jamnagar. We don’t go anywhere else," Anant Ambani said in the interview.
All the rescued animals have been brought to Vantara after obtaining prior approval from the Chief Wildlife Wardens of the respective states and the Central Zoo Authority as per provisions laid under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the recognition Zoo rules, 2009. All animal exchange programmes are done with approval/permission from the Central Zoo Authority.
Vantara has also answered exchange requests from other institutions in India and overseas. Such animals were brought in after obtaining necessary permissions from the Central Zoo Authority, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.
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