Rare species: Spix’s macaws in the Conservation Centre at Sao Paulo’s Zoo, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. — Reuters
This is a story about a bird and a family. But this is no ordinary bird, and this is no ordinary family.
Spix’s macaw, a vivid-blue parrot with elaborate mating rituals, was declared extinct in the wild in 2019. A captive-breeding programme has since seen some of the birds reintroduced to their native habitat in Brazil.
For more than two years, officials on three continents have been agitating over why 26 of the creatures ended up at a private zoo in India run by the philanthropic arm of a conglomerate controlled by the Ambanis.
Indian investigators cleared the sanctuary of any wrongdoing this week.
But European officials say they are keeping a close watch on any exports to Vantara, while Brazil, Germany and India are working toward a possible resolution at a United Nations-administered body that monitors wildlife trade.
The 3,500-acre Vantara animal rescue and rehabilitation centre in Gujarat state says it is home to some 2,000 species.
The venue featured in pre-wedding celebrations last year for the centre’s leader Anant Ambani, the youngest son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
The zoo, adjacent to an oil refinery operated by the Ambanis’ Reliance Industries, was inaugurated in March by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A Reuters analysis of 2,500 commercially available customs records shows that since 2022, the wildlife centre has imported an extraordinary range of exotic species from countries including South Africa, Venezuela, Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Arab Emirates.
The haul resembles a modern-day Noah’s Ark: 2,896 snakes, 1,431 tortoises, 219 tigers, 149 cheetahs, 105 giraffes, 62 chimpanzees, 20 rhinoceroses and scores of reptiles.
The shipments were recorded with a declared value of US$9mil, which a Vantara spokesperson said reflected freight and insurance charges, not payments for wildlife.
In August, India’s Supreme Court ordered investigators to examine whether Vantara’s acquisitions and treatment of animals complied with Indian laws and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The court this week said investigators found no illegality.
The biggest bone of contention has revolved around the Spix’s macaws that the park sourced in 2023 from the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots, a Germany-based non-profit that had partnered with Brazilian authorities to breed the birds.
Brazil says it didn’t consent to the parrots’ passage to India and has raised its concerns.
“The Vantara zoo has not yet joined the Spix’s Macaw Population Management Programme, which is a fundamental condition for the official involvement of this institution in the species conservation effort,” the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, a Brazilian government agency, said in an e-mail.
Judges in New Delhi this week released a summary of the Indian investigators’ report.
Among the findings: The export-import permits for Spix’s macaws were in order, and Vantara was now holding direct talks with Brazil about “rewilding”.
“Their deliberations are at a preliminary stage,” it said. —Reuters
