BENGALURU – A new private zoo in Jamnagar, the pre-wedding celebrations venue of Mr Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia’s richest person, has drawn attention over how it is sourcing its animals. 

The zoo in India’s western state of Gujarat is a personal project of the 28-year-old, whose father, Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani, has a personal wealth of US$114 billion (S$152 billion).

Mr Anant Ambani refers to the zoo as an “animal shelter” with 43 species “rescued from around India and the world”.

The Ambani family, who own conglomerate Reliance Industries, launched the 1,214ha zoo and animal rescue sanctuary on Feb 26. 

Officially called “Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Kingdom”, it will be run by the conglomerate’s non-profit trust in the green belt of the Reliance petroleum refinery, the world’s largest.

A company statement said the zoo, dubbed Vantara, which means “Star of the Forest”, has more than 200 elephants and over 300 large cats such as leopards, tigers, lions and jaguars. There are more than 3,000 herbivores such as deer, and over 1,200 reptiles including crocodiles, snakes and turtles. 

The zoo was the site of Mr Anant Ambani’s grand pre-wedding bash from March 1 to 3. The board member of Jio, Reliance’s telecoms company, said in a video interview with India Today that no wildlife would be “exposed for entertainment” for his guests, and that safaris would be “solely for educational purposes”. It is not clear what sort of visitors will be allowed.

But a photo of Ms Ivanka Trump with a decorated Asian elephant in the background has revived concerns of his use of wildlife for personal entertainment. 

The daughter of former US president Donald Trump was one of over 1,000 celebrity guests, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and pop icon Rihanna, who flew to Jamnagar for the pre-wedding festivities, including an evening with a jungle theme.

Sharing Ms Trump’s photo on Instagram, Indian actress Maria Goretti wrote: “I’m appalled at this picture of the Ambani celebration. I don’t think this should happen to any animal, specially not to animals that are being rescued and rehabilitated. Heartbreaking, just heartbreaking that this elephant was made to stand like a prop, in the middle of noise and people.”

On Feb 12, the Delhi High Court rejected a petition by lawyer Rahul Narula seeking a prohibition on “displaying or exhibiting the animals” at the Jamnagar zoo, saying no law prohibits the hosts from inviting guests to view non-commercial facilities set up for animals. 

The zoo is also facing allegations of illegal transfer of forest elephants from different parts of India and undue influence on state zoos. There is also scrutiny of India’s wildlife authorities.

Reliance Group did not answer queries from The Straits Times.

The zoo’s master layout plan shows enclosures for a wide variety of species, including Asian elephant, African lion, Bengal tiger and crocodile.

The company statement and many Indian media reports call the zoo “the world’s largest” but its 101ha zoo area is smaller than many shelters in India. Chennai’s state-run Aringnar Anna Zoological Park, for example, is 603ha in size. 

The Jamnagar zoo’s novelty lies in the billionaire scion’s efforts to source animals. The wildest coup might be if hippos from late drug lord Pablo Escobar’s private zoo in Colombia find their way to India.

Indian environment officials have confirmed that Mr Anant Ambani’s zoo has applied for import permits. The Colombian government has said an Indian facility will import 60 hippos that are descendants of the four that Escobar illegally transferred from Africa. 

First referred to as “cocaine hippos” by US news media, they have long flummoxed the Colombian authorities since they have been reproducing rapidly in the 30 years since they broke out of Escobar’s estate. 

The Jamnagar zoo reportedly also has permits from India’s zoo authorities to import wildlife from Mexico. It can transfer 286 animals of 17 species, many of them endangered, from a zoo in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon. 

In February 2021, the Jamnagar zoo took a pair of black panthers from Assam State Zoo in return for sourcing four zebras from Israel for the government zoo. According to Indian newspaper The Telegraph, the transfer sparked protests by members of the Chiriakhana Suraksha Mancha, an organisation formed to safeguard the Assam zoo, the only breeding centre for black panthers in the country. 

Villagers of Gadchiroli district in the western state of Maharashtra, backed by the parliamentarian in the area, opposed the transfer of 13 elephants by forest officials to Jamnagar in September 2022. The residents said the animals were a tourist attraction, and a source of direct and indirect employment. 

The forest department of eastern state Odisha in June 2022 reported eight attempts to allegedly smuggle some captive elephants from Assam to Jamnagar using forged certificates.

Although Indian law forbids the private sale of Asian elephants, those already in captivity can be “leased” or gifted, which has led many elephants, revered in Hinduism, to be used by temple trusts to give blessings, and tourism companies for rides. 

In 2021, the Indian government proposed amending the Wildlife Protection Act to effectively pave the way for the legalised commercial trade of live elephants. But after much criticism by conservationists, who said it would open the floodgates to trading of wild elephants, the law did not go through.

Several conservationists suggested that the change in legislation was for the benefit of Mr Anant Ambani, whose father has close links to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The young Ambani, however, maintains that his zoo is “a beacon of hope” where animals can thrive. He will also build a 25,000 sq ft elephant hospital there. 

He told Indian channel CNN-IBN that he was 12 when he helped rescue his first animal – a captive elephant calf walking with its mahout on a road in hot Rajasthan.

“I told my mum, we want to rescue it,” he said. 

He hopes to go beyond Jamnagar, by partnering India’s zoo authorities in improving all the 150-plus zoos in the country in terms of training, capacity building and animal care infrastructure, he said in the company statement.