Animal lovers can now keep up with the majestic and adorable animals cared for at Reliance Foundation’s Vantara rescue and rehabilitation centre in Gujarat’s Jamnagar on Instagram. Vantara made its debut on the photo sharing platform on Friday.
“Inspired to make a positive change in the welfare of animals, #Vantara is conceptualised by Shri Anant Mukesh Ambani, with a vision to care for distressed animals and support twenty-first century objectives for the conservation of biodiversity. Located in the heart of Jamnagar, Gujarat, Vantara is more than just a place for animals to heal – it’s a sanctuary where hope and compassion reign supreme,” one of the inaugural posts read.
Launched on February 26, Vantara (Star of the Forest) has a 650-acre Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre for animals from distressed and dangerous environments from India and all over the world, where they are rescued and housed in state-of-the-art large enclosures and shelters. Over 2,000+ animals across 43 species are under the care of the centre.
With a staff strength of about 2,100+, the rescue and rehabilitation centre has rescued about 200 leopards from all over India, which have suffered injuries in road accidents or man-wild conflicts. It has rescued over 1,000 crocodiles from a severely overcrowded and congested facility in Tamil Nadu. It has rescued animals from hunting lodges in Africa, animals under threat of euthanasia in Slovakia, severely distressed animals from facilities in Mexico.
Vantara is rooted in Sanatan beliefs as every deity has an animal as a vahana, Anant Ambani had told News18 in an interview recently. “In the Rigveda, too, Lord Krishna says all life is equal, be it human or a bee, or an ant. Here, we take care (of animals) from frogs to mice to everything.”
“Something that drives my cause is animal welfare. There are a lot of people working [for human welfare] but in animal welfare, there are few people working. I think I was the chosen one and am fortunate enough for God’s blessings… that I could do Seva of animals,” he had said.
The Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre has a 1 lakh sqft area for hospital and medical research centre. The hospital and research centre possess the most advanced technology with an ICU, MRI, CT scan, X-ray, ultrasound, endoscopy, dental scalar, lithotripsy, dialysis, OR1 technology that enables live videoconferences for surgeries and blood plasma separator.
For about 7 endangered species of Indian as well as foreign animals, the centre has started conservation breeding programs with the objective of having a viable reserve population to repopulate the populations of endangered species in their native habitats to save them from extinction.
The Vantara initiative, the first-of-its-kind in India, has been conceptualised and birthed under the passionate leadership of Anant Ambani, Director on the boards of RIL and Reliance Foundation.
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