“It had been a different kind of experience! As I walked past a parade of elephants, talking
with their mahouts, I found the elephants visibly agitated, as if they are recognizing me and
trying to be responsive!”
“It was profound, given my long association with these gentle giants!”
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I stared at the lanky man who now fixedly looking at his toe as he narrates a quite intense scene
he experienced in Vantara. (I shall keep his identity confidential – I promised him).
“Our family has long association with elephants like many other families from our state, Assam
and we have quite some experiences too. Elephants have deep social bond, they are supportive
and responsive to distress! Our captive elephants are free roaming even in their ‘captivity’!
Watching hundreds of these giants in restrictive space where their freedom of movement is
restricted has been deeply agonizing!”—he said.
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Controversial elephant transfers from north eastern India
The Supreme Court on August 25 (2025) constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to
conduct an “independent factual appraisal” of complaints and allegations of violations leveled
against Vantara, a zoological “rescue and rehabilitation centre” by Anant Ambani at Jamnagar,
Gujarat.
The SIT to be led by Justice J Chelameswar would examine among others – compliance
of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Rules for Zoos; compliance with the International
Convention on Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna and import and export laws
concerning live animals; standards of animal welfare, mortalities and causes; complaints
regarding climatic conditions and the very location of Vantara itself and most importantly the
acquisition of animals from India and abroad, particularly elephants.
Transfer of elephants from north eastern India has become more frequent in the last five/six
years and documents show all the transported elephants were bound for a rescue and
rehabilitation centre under the Radhe Krishna Elephant Welfare Trust in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
The Radhe Krishna Elephant Welfare Trust is said to have created infrastructure to house 200-300
captive elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation.
Conservationists were bewildered by the number of elephants and at the frequency the transfers had been made.
Concerns were raised over how the long ranging mega faunas were removed from places of their natural occurrence to an unnatural terrain with very different climatic and geographic location where they would be held captive life-long.
A report of the high-powered committee set up by the High Court of Tripura to adjudicate all requests for transfer of wild/captive wild animals for rescue – has, however, found the Jamnagar facility “conducive” for housing the elephants for their entire life!
‘Law amended to facilitate supply of elephants to zoos and rescue centres’
Interestingly, most of the elephants sent to Jamnagar were sub-adults; healthy without in dire
need of care. There have been serious allegations that sometimes elephants have been illegally
captured from the wild and reclassified as a captive to send to Jamnagar.
In 2022, trucks ferrying ten jumbos from Arunachal Pradesh to the Trust in Jamnagar were intercepted by volunteers of the Adi Students’ Union in Siang district.
All the transported elephants were healthy sub-adults without the need for “rescue and rehabilitation.”
Among those had been a seven-year-old male and the Ownership Certificate (OC) for it did not mention whether it was acquired through purchase or succession or whether it was born in captivity.
The owner’s hurried decision to send it to the Trust raised doubts that the elephant was illegally captured from the wild and reclassified as a captive and the OC had been acquired explicitly for the
purpose of transfer.
Conservationists and animal rights activists said that the “WLP law was amended in 2022 to
facilitate the supply of elephants to zoos and rescue centres” and felt the exemption by the
MoEF is the root cause of all the problems related to captive elephants in the country.”
Also Read: Assam: Young elephant rescued from mud pit near Kaziranga National Park
A wide section of conservationists, animal welfare activists and journalists viewed the Section 39(4) was added “to supply elephants and other wild animals to the Vantara Zoo (camouflaged as a rescue
centre, also known as the Radhe Krishna Temple Trust) in Jamnagar, Gujarat.”
Sections 40, 42 and 43 and issuing fake documents and Ownership Certificates (OCs) are the root cause of all the problems related to captive elephants.
In case of elephants sent to Jamnagar, the transporters produce valid documents, including No
Objection Certificates (NOC) from the chief wildlife wardens of both states involved, fitness
certificates by veterinarian and non-commercial donation documents between the elephant
owners and the Radhe Krishna Temple Welfare Trust in Jamnagar.
“The trade in elephants has become more frequent after the establishment of a rescue and
rehabilitation centre in Jamnagar,” said Jayanta Kumar Das, who had been honorary wildlife
warden for the Udalguri district in Assam.
“Elephants in the north eastern states have a much better quality of life even if their owners are in poverty. The elephant facilities where they are being sent to could be very conducive with highly enriched artificial conditions but wouldn’t it amount to cruelty if the animals have to bathe in artificial showers and not in a flowing river?”
“Forced to have food like khicdi, ladoo, chappatis in place of their natural fodder they are used
to in this region? ” he asked.
Citing instances of very high incidence of gastric impaction and intestinal obstructions seen in
captive elephants in Kerala, an elephant expert and veterinarian who wished not to be named
said—“elephants from Northeast India get a supply of juicy succulent fodder all the year round.
Their system is simply not suited to coarse coconut and palm oil tree leaves.”
In the Jamnagar facility too, there could be many complications arising out of the very different diet.
“Elephants are social animals with families composed of cows and calves. Bulls are often seen
loosely attached to the herd. In the north eastern states, even in captivity the animals seem to enjoy the company of other elephants. They are happy only in the company of other elephants.”
“In the artificial facilities they don’t have chance for normal socializing or mating or we can say
breeding opportunities,” he added.
The north-eastern states more or less enjoy a moderate climate enjoyed by elephants. Experts fear “it would be fatal for them if they were made to live in totally artificial conditions or in a very hostile temperature in Gujarat.”
Illegal trade of elephants from Northeast and other exotic wildlife
Not only elephants, Vantara has become one of the world’s largest zoos developed by Reliance
Industries hosting some most majestic, exotic, and endangered animals of the planet like African lions, Royal Bengal tigers, grizzly bears to jaguars, pygmy hippos, kangaroos, rhinos to marmosets.
There had been several instances when exotic wildlife – listed in IUCN’s threatened, endangered and critically endangered list – were rescued in Assam.
Trafficking gangs in South East Asia has been using India’s long porous border with Myanmar as an active transit route sent consignments of rare and endangered wildlife through Mizoram then brought to the Assam State Zoo and from there relocated to Jamnagar with court orders.
The Chiriyakhana Suraksha Mancha (CSM ), a non- profit, monitoring these exchanges, claimed that along with rescued wildlife, Assam’s rare and endemic species landed in Vantara giving details how the Assam Zoo allegedly become a transit for illegally traded wildlife.
“Many violations have been made during these exchanges.”
“Animals were transferred during night. Even rescued animals have been transferred although rules say the animals, which are not born in the zoo or brought from other places, can’t be transferred,” alleged Rajkumar Baishya, general secretary of the CSM. DFO Ashwin Kumar, however, maintained that any zoo in the country, private or government can transfer animals with the Central Zoo Authority’s permission.
The SIT, constituted by the Supreme Court to conduct an “independent factual appraisal” of
complaints and allegations of violations leveled against Vantara, would seek information from
the petitioners, officials, regulators, journalists and others who may wish their allegations to be
examined and also look into allegations regarding “creation of a vanity or private collection,
breeding, conservation programmes and use of biodiversity resources, misutilisation of water
and carbon credits, breach of laws of trade in animals or animal articles, wildlife smuggling and
money laundering.”
In the meanwhile, questions have been raised on the constitution of the high-powered committee that is filled with MoEF officials and a retired judge.
There is no representation from nature/wildlife NGOs.
Questions have also been raised over the inactions of MoEF, Project Elephant, WCCB, High Powered Committee (appointed by SC to decide on elephant transfers) and concerned state forest departments had led to the boom of illegal elephant trade.
Almost all captive elephants in India, largely, come from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Young elephants are captured from the wild and sold by saying, “It was born to my captive adult female elephant.”
To prevent this, DNA tests (apart from the microchips used for identification) for all the captive elephants is a must.
The WLP section 64 give state governments power to make rules. Forest Departments in every state need to make stringent rules to stop the illegal elephant trade and abuse of elephants.
The investigation is likely to address a matter of great public interest and significant legal implications.