Bengaluru: In an open letter to Vantara, the Reliance-owned zoological, rescue and rehabilitation centre in Gujarat’s Jamnagar, 27 international conservation and animal welfare organisations have urged that the centre permanently end all its wild animal imports and provide a public inventory of all animals being held in its facilities. These are just two of the 14 requests made by organisations including the Orangutan Information Centre in Indonesia, the Wildlife Animal Protection Forum South Africa, Four Paws International, Pro Wildlife and the Jane Goodall Institute Global. ‘Put an end to all wild animal imports’The open letter, dated September 22, is a response to Vantara’s letter to the Indian CITES Management Authority (dated August 19) in which the rescue centre announced that it would not import any live animals for at least a year, along with several other “voluntary commitments”.But a moratorium alone will not do, the 27 international organisations signatory to the September 22 letter to Vantara have said.“Replace the temporary moratorium with a permanent end to the import of wild animals, subject only to extremely limited and exceptional exemptions based on clearly defined criteria,” the letter read. It urges Vantara to work with relevant authorities in India, exporting and re-exporting countries, the CITES Secretariat and other stakeholders to “address the concerns expressed regarding compliance with CITES and national regulations”, as well as adopt “stringent criteria and due diligence procedures” for any animals transfers, be it to other facilities or countries.Provide public inventory of animalsThe letter also says that Vantara should define clear criteria for what constitutes a legitimate “rescue”.Vantara’s activities so far have involved “rescuing” animals by importing them from different sources across the world, including from private collections such as the Kangaroo Animals Shelter in Dubai, United Arab Emirates – an entity that is alleged to have sourced animals from the wild and is under investigation by UAE authorities. Investigative news reports such as this one in March last year had alleged that Vantara’s demand for ‘rescued’ wildlife had fuelled illegal wildlife trade worldwide. However, Vantara told The Wire that these allegations were “baseless” and “misleading”. In September, the Supreme Court dismissed all allegations about Vantara, absolving it of any wrongdoing. The latest letter penned by the 27 international organisations also requests Vantara to ensure that no payments are made for the acquisition or transfer of animals, whether directly by Vantara or indirectly through donors, the letter said. In its last communication to the Indian CITES Management Authority, Vantara had insisted that it had never bought any animal (contrary to allegations that media houses, among others, have made) and that in many cases, animals it received from other countries were bought by donors and then “gifted or donated” to Vantara, and every such receipt had “valid documentation”.Vantara should also provide a public inventory of the animals held at its facilities, implement a ‘no breeding’ policy with very limited exceptions and make public its partnerships, the letter urged.Currently, there is no official data on the number of animals and species being held at Vantara. Its website pegs this number at over 1,50,000 animals representing more than 2,000 species.According to the GZRRC’s most recent annual report (2023-24) accessible on the website of the Central Zoo Authority, the Rescue Centre was home to 10,360 animals across 345 species as of March 2024. The Central Zoo Authority’s (CZA) Annual Inventory of Animals in Indian Zoos (2023-24) mentions the same number for the GZRRC. However, the GZRRC has since not uploaded any annual reports on the CZA website (as all zoos and rescue centres are mandated to). The CZA’s annual inventory for 2024-25, meanwhile, listed the number of animals in the GZRRC at 34,370. There is no data for the rescue centre at all in the CZA’s latest annual inventory (2025-26).Repatriate animals, encourage dialogue with civil societyAnother request made in the letter is that Vantara give priority to repatriating animals to range states for rehabilitation and release, where possible.For instance, as per the Central Zoo Authority’s annual inventory of animals across zoos and rescue centres in India for the year 2024-25, the GZRRC was home to 17 orangutans (of the total 24 orangutans in zoos across India as of March 2025). These include nine Sumatran orangutans, one Tapanuli orangutan and seven Bornean orangutans (all Critically Endangered species). Again, this is not the latest data: as mentioned earlier, the GZRRC has not uploaded annual reports specifying animal numbers for the last two years; its latest annual report is that of 2023-24, which lists only six orangutans sourced from the UAE. The latest CZA annual inventory does not contain any data on the GZRRC too.According to Sinan Serhadli, adviser at the Yayasan Orangutan Sumatera Lestari-Orangutan Information Centre (YOSL-OIC) in Sumatra (which is also one of the 27 signatories of this letter) all orangutans at Vantara must be sent to Indonesia for repatriation.“Where these animals came from matters, as does how many animals died to make it happen…if Vantara wants to establish any kind of credibility, they should repatriate all the orangutans that are in their care because most of them came from the UAE. Those orangutans are victims of wildlife trafficking. They’re not native to the UAE but were trafficked there. They belong back in Indonesia and deserve to go back to the wild,” he told The Wire.Other requests mentioned in the letter include providing a clarification as to what kind of “international accreditation and benchmarking” Vantara aims to pursue, guaranteeing high-quality lifetime care for individual animals held by Vantara, and ensuring both independent oversight and protections for civil society. Appreciating Vantara’s commitment that it would address any additional concerns or complaints, the organisations have said that Vantara should establish mechanisms to encourage and embrace assessment by, and constructive dialogue with, civil society.“NGOs, researchers, journalists, whistleblowers, and concerned citizens should be able to raise issues and provide recommendations in good faith, without facing legal or institutional pressure,” the letter read. Many stories critical of Vantara have been taken down over the past years, according to several reports. Days after reporting on a South African wildlife organization raising concerns about the functioning of the Reliance-owned Vantara, at least three major media outlets took down their stories from the web, AltNews reported in March 2025. Multiple journalists and newsrooms from Africa, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Germany and India told The News Minute in October 2025 that they were targeted with fake emails, spoofed legal notices, and copyright claims aimed at suppressing their reporting that was critical of Vantara.The Wire has reached out to Vantara for its response to the requests made by the conservation and animal welfare organisations in their letter. This article will be updated if we receive a response.