By AFP - Agence France Presse
Indian elephants on an epic journey to tycoon Anant Ambani's giant zoo
The zoo was also among the many venues for Anant's lavish wedding celebrations, which lasted several days
NEW DELHI: A jumbo operation is transporting 20 elephants across India to the giant private zoo created by the son of Asia's richest man, next to an extensive oil refinery.
The elephants have been “freed from exploitation by the logging industry”, according to the Vantara Animal Rescue Centre, run by Anant Ambani, son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, director of Reliance Industries, a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The scale of the self-declared “world's largest wildlife rescue center” has attracted attention - including more than 50 bears, 160 tigers, 200 lions, 250 leopards, and 900 crocodiles, according to the Central Zoo Authority of India's inventory.
The elephants are being transported the length and breadth of India, some 3,200 kilometers (1,990 miles) by road, from the misty forests of Arunachal Pradesh state in the northeastern Himalayas to Jamnagar in the plains of Gujarat in the west.
It's an astonishing journey, about the distance from Paris to Cairo, even for a zoo that has brought animals from all over the world.
The elephants include animals born in captivity, some with deep wounds caused by chains used by their keepers to control them and drag wood.
They are being transported in “elephant ambulances” - specially adapted trucks - accompanied by a team of more than 200 staff, including veterinarians.
Photographs taken during the journey and published by local media show the elephants' trunks swaying on top of the slowly moving trucks.
The animals will end up being housed alongside around 200 elephants that are already in 29-year-old Anant's pet project, a vast operation that includes more than 2,000 animals from 43 species in an area of 1,214 hectares.
'Significant mental suffering'
They will live without chains and will never be forced to work,” says a statement from Vantara, which means ‘Star of the Forest’ in Hindi.
They are housed at a site near the Reliance Jamnagar Refinery Complex, which the conglomerate also claims is the world's largest crude oil refinery. Summer temperatures can exceed 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
Indian social media has both posts praising the move - and those concerned that the endangered animals will be kept in a private facility and not returned to the wild.
Two other elephants, from a Hindu temple complex in Mayapur, in the state of West Bengal, where they performed temple rituals, are also being taken to the zoo on a 2,300-kilometer journey.
One of these elephants killed its keeper last year. Vantara said that “living in captivity causes significant mental suffering” and insisted that its facilities will now support the elephants' “emotional recovery”.
Around 2,100 staff look after the animals at the zoo, according to Vantara.
The zoo was also among the many venues for Anant's lavish wedding celebrations in 2024, parties that set a new standard for matrimonial extravagance - including private performances by R&B star Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, The Backstreet Boys and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
Anant's father, Mukesh, is chairman of Reliance Industries, a conglomerate founded by the family that has become India's largest company in terms of market capitalization.
Mukesh Ambani, who attended US President Donald Trump's inauguration this week, is the 18th richest person in the world, with a fortune of more than $95 billion, according to Forbes.
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