NGOs call on Vantara to end all wild animal imports permanently

Twenty-seven wildlife and animal welfare NGOs sent an open letter urging Vantara, the Reliance-funded Indian zoo, to make permanent its 12-month pause on wild animal imports, which is backdated to June 2026 and thus expires in about 10 months. The letter follows investigations and a CITES Secretariat inspection flagging irregularities in Vantara's acquisition of roughly 60,000 animals across 2,000-plus species, including Spix's macaws and critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans, though India's top court found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Vantara says it has withdrawn pending import applications, created an independent governing council led by former CITES chief John Scanlon, and will restrict future imports to accredited facilities or conservation programs. The NGOs counter that exemptions for ‘captive-bred’ or donor-purchased animals could still launder wild-caught wildlife, and that a temporary ban with a known expiration date risks encouraging traffickers to stockpile animals in the meantime.

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