Anant Ambani’s Vantara has over 25,000 animals of 48 species

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to Gujarat’s Vantara, a sprawling wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and conservation centre that houses over 1.5 lakh rescued, endangered, and threatened animals from over 2,000 species. He toured the facility and experienced its comprehensive wildlife care.

PM Modi’s visit to Vantara demonstrated the center’s dedication to duplicating natural environments, which was obvious in the wide enclosures. He encountered spectacular animals such as Golden Tigers, Snow Leopards, and four Snow Tiger brothers rescued from a circus.

He also spent time with rescued chimps, a playful orangutan, a submerged hippopotamus, and crocodiles, as well as patting an Okapi, going on a walk among zebras, feeding a giraffe, and nursing a rhino calf who had been orphaned when her mother died at the facility. He also witnessed a huge python, an uncommon two-headed snake, and a two-headed turtle.

More from India

PM Modi visits Vantara wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and conservation centre in Gujarat Modi in Mauritius: As PM commends ‘Geet-Gawai’ in ‘mini India’, MEA briefs in Bhojpuri | Video

PM Modi also saw elephants enjoying hydrotherapy tubs for arthritis and foot ailments, demonstrating Vantara’s commitment to animal care. He went to the world’s largest elephant hospital and saw as the rescued parrots were released.

Vantara, an umbrella program focused on the rescue, treatment, care, and rehabilitation of wounded, neglected, and threatened animals in India and throughout the world, houses nearly 25,000 animals from 48 different species.

The Vantara program, the first of its type in India, was conceptualised and launched under the enthusiastic leadership of Anant Ambani, a director on the boards of RIL and the Reliance Foundation. Vantara, which spans 3,000 acres within the Green Belt of Reliance’s Jamnagar Refinery Complex in Gujarat, aspires to be one of the world’s foremost conservation organisations.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

'New dawn': PM Modi meets Manipur violence victims in first visit since 2023 unrest

CP Radhakrishnan takes oath as Vice President of India

With a team of over 2,100, Vantara’s rescue and rehabilitation institute has rescued approximately 200 leopards from throughout India who were injured in traffic accidents or man-wild confrontations. It also saved almost 1,000 crocodiles from an overcrowded and congested facility in Tamil Nadu, as well as animals in African hunting lodges, animals facing euthanasia in Slovakia, and highly agitated animals from Mexican institutions.

The Centre has begun conservation breeding initiatives for around seven endangered species of Indian and foreign species with the goal of creating a sustainable reserve population to repopulate endangered species in their natural habitats and preserve them from extinction.

The Centre includes a hospital and a medical research centre spanning 1 lakh square feet. The hospital and research facility are equipped with cutting-edge equipment, including an ICU, MRI, CT scan, X-ray, ultrasound, endoscopy, dental scalar, lithotripsy, dialysis, OR1 technology that allows for live videoconferences during surgeries, and a blood plasma separator.

Vantara is rooted in Sanatan beliefs as every deity has an animal as a vahana, Anant Ambani had told News18 in an interview. “In the Rigveda, too, Lord Krishna says all life is equal, be it human or a bee, or an ant. Here, we take care (of animals) from frogs to mice to everything."

“Something that drives my cause is animal welfare. There are a lot of people working [for human welfare] but in animal welfare, there are few people working. I think I was the chosen one and am fortunate enough for God’s blessings… that I could do Seva of animals," he had said.

Over 200 elephants, 300 big felines such as leopards, tigers, lions, and jaguars, 300 herbivores such as deer, and over 1,200 reptiles like as crocodiles, snakes, and turtles now have a new lease on life and hope thanks to the Vantara ecosystem.