On World Wildlife Day this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Vantara, a wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and conservation centre — also a private zoo. (To give you context, the Delhi Zoo is spread over 200 acres. Vantara is 3,000 acres.) On cue, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan and other high-achiever celebrity friends of Anant Ambani tweeted pictures and praise.
The newly inaugurated facility claims to host the world’s largest cheetah conservation project. Outside its perfectly manicured precincts, however, the reality is jarring. In the government’s recent Rs 100 crore cheetah relocation exercise, eight cheetahs and three cubs died. This, according to the government’s own admission in Parliament in 2023. The exercise was undertaken despite the government’s awareness of studies that indicate relocation efforts such as these only have a 50 per cent rate of success. This again, according to its own admission in Parliament.
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The challenges surrounding cheetah conservation are just one aspect of a broader attitude of complete abdication of a commitment to wildlife. As per the latest estimates of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, there are currently 73 “critically endangered” species of animals in the country, a sharp rise from 47 in 2011.
The critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB) has only about 100 animals left in the wild, according to 2022 government data. In 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the government to take concrete measures to save and conserve the GIB. In its reply, the government stated that the Court’s orders were “practically impossible to implement”.
The government’s priorities are also reflected in budgetary allocations. Project Tiger and Elephant, which were given separate funding earlier, have now been clubbed together. Funding for these projects declined by 23 per cent between 2019 and 2023, with seven out of 10 states receiving no funds in FY2022. Another centrally sponsored scheme, Development of Wildlife Habitats, saw a 20 per cent reduction in funding during the same period.
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Human-animal conflict is another problem that has caused harm to both humans and animals across the country. Between 2019 and 2023, elephant attacks caused nearly 2,800 deaths. In Kerala alone, between 2021 and 2024, conflicts with wildlife claimed 316 lives and injured 3,700 people. During the same period, human-tiger conflicts resulted in nearly 300 deaths, while 75 tigers died due to poaching, seizures, and other unnatural causes.
Despite the rising toll of human-animal conflict, the government’s wildlife management approach has often been reactive and extreme, evident in the continued shoot-at-sight orders issued across states. In 2016, the Union government assured Parliament that no such orders were being issued, only permissions to “drive the animals away with a stick” in certain cases. However, states have continued with the practice. In 2024, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan ordered the killing of some wolves and leopards in response to attacks on villagers. Likewise, Karnataka took similar action against a tiger in 2021 due to repeated attacks, while Maharashtra in 2018 decided to kill a tigress based on a court directive. Exotic pet trade in India is another issue of concern and a complicated subject that I don’t want to just gloss over in this column.
Recently, the government passed the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023. The Bill allowed for sweeping exemptions from forest conservation rules for land located within 100 kilometres of international borders, the Line of Control, or the Line of Actual Control. Despite such critical amendments, it was rushed through the Lok Sabha with only four speakers debating for a little over 30 minutes. The allotted time for discussion? Three hours.
The Prime Minister’s home state has seen the deaths of 286 lions (58 unnatural deaths) and 456 leopards (153 unnatural deaths) in the last two years, as admitted by the Gujarat government. In 2023-24 alone, an average of 45 animals died in the state’s zoos, according to data from the annual reports published by the Central Zoo Authority. The CZA’s rankings further highlight the poor state of Gujarat’s animal care. Ahmedabad Zoo received the lowest score among large zoos, and only two out of six zoos in Gujarat were rated “good” or “better”. One even scored so low that the report highlighted “requires substantial improvement”.
The one good aspect about philanthropists working on animal welfare is that it will encourage many more to step up. Animals are not a vote bank, which makes them a non-priority for governments. But when high net-worth individuals step in with funds, it will help governments scale up the very important work of conservation of wildlife. The other benefit of philanthropists stepping in is the boost it gives to veterinary research. Private funds coming in for animal welfare will encourage greater research in veterinary sciences and encourage more students to take up veterinary medicine as a career.
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It is clear that we need a public-private partnership to strengthen conservation, but then it should truly be that — public-private partnership. Private philanthropy shall conserve, support research, and create examples with the ultimate goal of strengthening state institutions and not just creating a private enterprise with little or no public accountability.
Seventy years ago, George Orwell wrote in his book Animal Farm: “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
The writer is MP and leader, All India Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party (Rajya Sabha). Additional research credit: Nipunj Niket
