UK ministers told not to engage formally with Indian mega-zoo after lobbying

British government ministers were told not to engage formally with Vantara, the controversial mega-zoo run by the Indian billionaire Anant Ambani, after lobbying efforts by the private animal sanctuary in the run-up to a UK-chaired meeting on the trade in endangered species, according to documents.

This week, the UK heads a 32-country committee meeting in Geneva of Cites, the United Nations body that regulates trade in endangered species. The meeting will examine how India has responded to compliance concerns about imports of endangered animals.

Documents obtained by the Guardian and the news outlet Mongabay under the UK’s Freedom of Information Act reveal Vantara’s efforts to lobby British officials and ministers before the meeting.

Ambani, 31, is the heir to the oil and gas fortune of one of India’s richest men, Mukesh Ambani. He set up a 1,400-hectare (3,500-acre) private zoo near his family’s oil-refining facilities in Gujarat, where more than 150,000 animals have reportedly been amassed since 2022. Vantara boasts high welfare standards for animals in its care, including facilities such as an elephant hydrotherapy pool, where more than 260 elephants can also receive oil therapies and Ayurvedic massage.

But conservation groups have repeatedly questioned how such a vast number of species, many of which are endangered, were gathered so quickly. Last year, India’s supreme court cleared the zoo’s operators of any wrongdoing.

A subsequent Cites fact-finding mission looking into the zoo raised concerns about India’s compliance with international rules on animal imports in 2025. It recommended temporary restrictions on India, although the recommendation was later withdrawn.

Its November 2025 report said: “There is a need for caution to ensure that imports of large numbers of animals by these facilities are not inadvertently creating a demand for illegally sourced animals.”

In May, officials from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) met a representative from Vantara and the US lobbyist firm Checkmate Government Relations, founded by Ches McDowell, a hunting friend of Donald Trump Jr.

Before the meeting, internal briefing documents said Checkmate was “seeking to persuade the UK to take a more sympathetic view of India’s handling of imports to Vantara and of Checkmate’s argument that responsibility for verifying legality sits primarily with exporting or re-exporting parties rather than with India as importer”.

During the meeting, the Vantara representative invited UK officials to visit the zoo – an invitation that was subsequently declined to ensure the impartiality of the UK’s Cites chair role.

After the meeting, a representative from another lobbying firm, Atlas Strategy, working on behalf of Vantara, approached the then secretary of state, Emma Reynolds, and then nature minister, Mary Creagh, also raising the prospect of a visit to the zoo.

When Reynolds asked for advice, a note was issued recommending that ministers did not engage formally with Vantara.

The government documents also reveal concerns about an application by Vantara to import falcons and falcon hybrids, after an unnamed organisation made a £50,000 “donation” to a breeder in the UK, whose identity was also not disclosed. British Cites officials classified the transaction as commercial, according to the documents. The falcons were not exported to India.

A spokesperson for Vantara said it had not imported falcons from the UK, nor had the zoo hired or paid a lobbying firm. It is understood that Checkmate and Altas Strategy were working pro bono for Vantara and not required to register with the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.

After recent scrutiny, Vantara has sought to “reset” its activities by voluntarily suspending animal imports for a year and hiring John Scanlon, a former Cites chief, to oversee its operations. In an interview with the Sunday Times this year, Ambani said he only brought animals to Vantara legally to ensure their welfare, mentioning a group of hippos he had saved from a hunting lodge in South Africa and jackass penguins saved from a shopping centre in Qatar.

“I think since I was a baby I have been taking care of animals. It’s always been a passion,” he said.

Vantara was used to host Ambani’s lavish pre-wedding celebrations in 2024, which were attended by celebrity guests and politicians. In September, Newcastle University awarded the oil heir a professorship of practice for “his work in conservation, biodiversity protection, animal welfare and environmental stewardship”, sparking a backlash from conservationists.

A Defra spokesperson said: “The UK has strict rules in place to protect endangered species and ensuring international wildlife trade is legal and sustainable, with every application assessed individually against internationally agreed and domestic requirements.”

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