Reports about Vantara – the animal rehabilitation centre of Reliance’s Anant Ambani in Gujarat’s Jamnagar – are curiously unavailable, hours after they were published by Deccan Herald, The Telegraph India and The Tribune.
These reports had highlighted concerns of a South African animal protection organisation over the large-scale import of animals to Vantara, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 3.
TNM has learned that independent news organizations that published similar reports received emails and legal notices pressuring them to take down the story.
Mahesh Deka, executive editor of NorthEast Now, told TNM that his firm received a threatening mail, a day after publication of the article, alleging that the news website was inciting violence and hatred against organisations. The mail, signed by one Bilal Ahmad, carried a link of the article and alleged that the website was seeking money to remove it.
The next day Mahesh also received messages from multiple PR agencies - based in Mumbai and Delhi - requesting him to remove four articles related to Vantara. "One agency even asked me to publish a paid content, which I refused stating that it was against our editorial policy," Mahesh said. He said that NorthEast Now is not planning to remove any of the articles from its website.
The email said, “I came across the website by chance and was shocked at the type of content it is promoting. The website is manipulating people's personal information with the intention of defaming and blackmailing them. It is evident that the website's contents are defamatory and violate the rights of individuals to online privacy and protection.
I strongly urge your help center to take action and remove the website as it is promoting terrorism and violates the laws of the land.”
The email was signed by a man named Bilal, who listed a mobile number with a Pakistan ISD code.
Down To Earth magazine confirmed that they first received an email and call asking them to remove the story. Later, they received a notice of defamation up to Rs. 1,000 crore from lawyers claiming to represent Anant Ambani.
It is however unclear whether Deccan Herald, The Telegraph India and The Tribune received any such emails or legal notices.
Newslaundry reached out to the chief editors of Deccan Herald and The Telegraph India. Meanwhile, TNM reached out to officials of Vantara for a comment. This report will be updated if they respond.
The Wildlife Animal Protection Forum of South Africa (WAPFSA) – a coalition of 30 organisations from across the African country that works to protect wild animals and conserve their natural environments – had urged the country’s environment minister to investigate alleged export of several wild animals from South Africa to Vantara in India. In a letter written to South African environment minister Dion George on March 6, the WAPFSA claimed it was “aware that legitimate concerns have been raised within CITES regarding the large number of different live species of wild animals that are being imported to [Vantara]”.
CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) is a multilateral treaty between governments to regulate the international trade of threatened species.
In its letter, WAPFSA raised concerns about the high numbers of leopards, cheetahs, tigers and lions that were allegedly imported to Vantara. It also raised concerns about the suitability of Vantara’s location because Gujarat, where the 3,000 acre facility is located, is hotter than many parts of India, making it unsuitable for many species. The group told the ministry that a case for “India’s potential non-compliance” had been discussed at a meeting of the CITES standing committee in November 2023.
Following this, several Indian news organisations, including Deccan Herald and The Telegraph India reported the incident on their websites. However, at the time of writing this report, the links to the online articles of Deccan Herald, The Telegraph India and The Tribune returned a ‘404 - Page not found’ error.
On March 10, the Financial Express posted the link of their report on X with the quote “South African organisation raises alarm over export of wild animals from South Africa to Ambani’s Vanatara” The link now takes the reader to an updated article that is a listicle on Vantara’s various “unique” features. Curiously, the url of Financial Express report still contains the keywords of the original article: south-african-organisation-raises-alarm-over-export-of-wild-animals-from-south-africa-to-ambanis-vantaran
With inputs from Jisha Surya.
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