Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation on Monday unveiled Vantara, an initiative for animal welfare in Gujarat, with focus on the rescue, treatment, and rehabilitation of injured and abused wildlife across India and abroad.
“We started the wildlife rescue centre building in the peak of Covid,” said Anant Ambani, director on the boards of RIL and Reliance Foundation, in an interaction with the media, ahead of his pre-wedding festivities in Gujarat’s Jamnagar from March 1-3. “We’ve created a jungle of 600 acres. We created an entire habitat for the elephants and in 2008, we rescued our first elephant. The Greens Zoological Rescue Centre started in 2020…We have a total of about 3,000 people working for Green’s Zoological Research and Rescue Center. Out of that, we have approximately 20-30 expats. All the expats are in the role of teachers or professors. We take young graduates who have just finished their veterinary graduation from different backgrounds, like nutritionists. We also have some human doctors who are extremely passionate about animals…”
Spread over 3,000 acres 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.
The programme has worked with international organisations such as the Venezuelan National Foundation of Zoos and associated with reputable organisations worldwide such as the Smithsonian and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
In India, it collaborates with the National Zoological Park, Assam State Zoo, Nagaland Zoological Park, Sardar Patel Zoological Park, etc.
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, jaguars, etc, around 300 herbivores such as deer, and close to 1,200 reptiles such as crocodiles, snakes, and turtles.
Comments
0 comment