Influenced by Nita Ambani, Anant launches 3,000-acre animal shelter ‘Vantara’ in Gujarat's Jamnagar
Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation on Monday announced the launch of 'Vantara', an umbrella initiative aimed at rescuing, treating, caring and rehabilitating injured, abused and threatened animals, in India and abroad. The initiative—a brainchild of Anant Ambani, director on the boards of Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation— is considered to be the world’s largest animal rescue and rehabilitation centre. "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," Reliance Industries said in a statement.
Located within the ‘Green Belt’ of Reliance’s Jamnagar Refinery Complex, the animal shelter is spread over 3,000 acres having a “jungle-like environment that mimics the natural, enriching, lush and verdant habitat for the rescued species to thrive in". It has over 2,000 "rescued animals", which are said to have been brought to the facility from across the country as well as many other parts of the globe. In an exclusive interview with CNN-News18, Anant Ambani said his mother, philanthropist Nita Ambani, has been a big inspiration behind this project.
“So my mother has always been a great inspiration to me. My mother, when I was a young boy and we were going, I was, I think, 12 years old, we were travelling from Jaipur to Ranthambore. In the middle, on the road, we saw a young elephant with a ‘mahavat’ in the peak heat, and the elephant was walking a little weirdly," CNN-News18 quoted Ambani as saying.
“So I told my mom, we want to rescue it. So that was the first elephant. And we had no idea how to take care of elephants.
Read more on livemint.com
