theSIGNAL ENVIRONMENT
4 November 2026
"The question is not whether we can trade, but whether we can trace what we trade."
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Environment

Ministers Told to Keep Away From Ambani's Mega-Zoo

Documents show British officials were advised against formal contact with Vantara as the UK prepares to chair a Geneva meeting on endangered-species trade.

More than 150,000 animals in under four years: that is the scale of the collection reportedly assembled since 2022 at Vantara, a private zoo of 1,400 hectares in Gujarat, western India. Its founder, 31-year-old Anant Ambani, is the heir to one of Asia's largest oil and gas fortunes, and his project now sits at the centre of a diplomatic dispute that reaches from Gujarat to Geneva. This week, the United Kingdom chairs a 32-country committee of Cites, the United Nations body that regulates trade in endangered species. On the agenda is how India has answered concerns about its imports of protected animals.

According to documents obtained by the Guardian and Mongabay under Freedom of Information laws, British ministers were advised not to engage formally with Vantara beforehand, even though the zoo had been lobbying officials. In May, civil servants from the environment department Defra met a Vantara representative and Checkmate Government Relations, a US firm founded by Ches McDowell, a hunting friend of Donald Trump Jr. Vantara advertises high welfare standards, including a hydrotherapy pool for more than 260 elephants. India's supreme court cleared its operators of wrongdoing last year.

Yet a Cites fact-finding mission reached a more cautious conclusion in November 2025, warning that bulk purchases could fuel demand for illegally sourced wildlife. It recommended temporary restrictions on India, a proposal later withdrawn. At the heart of the argument is a question of responsibility. Checkmate's reported position was that verifying the legality of a shipment falls mainly on the exporting country, not the buyer.

Photo: paweldotio / Unsplash
Elephants gather at a large private wildlife facility in western India, the subject of international scrutiny.
Discuss
  • Why might officials advise ministers against formal meetings with an organisation that is the subject of an international compliance review?
  • Who should bear responsibility for checking that an imported animal was legally sourced: the exporting country or the importing buyer?
  • India's supreme court cleared Vantara, yet Cites still raised concerns. How can legal and conservation judgments differ so sharply?
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"
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.
Cites fact-finding mission report, November 2025
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theSIGNAL IN THE LAB
1VOCABULARY
heirlobbying
endangered speciesfact-finding missionwrongdoing
scrutiniseaccountable
2GRAMMAR FOCUS
Modal verbs of deduction and speculation (must have, cannot have, might have)
Use 'must have + past participle' when you are almost certain something happened, 'cannot/can't have' when you are almost certain it did not, and 'might/may/could have' when it is possible but uncertain.
must · cannot · might · could · can't · may · should
  1. Assembling more than 150,000 animals in under four years have required enormous financial resources.
  2. The supreme court cleared Vantara's operators last year, so the judges have found clear evidence of illegal activity.
  3. British ministers were advised to keep their distance; officials have worried that formal contact would look like an endorsement.
  4. The Cites mission's proposal to restrict India was later withdrawn, so someone have persuaded the committee to reconsider.
  5. Vantara's lobbying have influenced some officials, although the documents do not prove it.
  6. Val's childhood fish have died from lack of oxygen, which would explain why he found them dead by morning.
3DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS
Complete each phrase with the correct preposition. All from today's articles.
  1. Ministers were advised not to engage formally ___ the zoo.
  2. India's supreme court cleared the operators ___ wrongdoing.
  3. Bulk purchases could fuel demand ___ illegally sourced wildlife.
  4. Verifying a shipment's legality falls mainly ___ the exporting country.
  5. The zoo had been lobbying officials ___ the weeks before the meeting.
4CRITICAL THINKING
The articles describe three very different kinds of warning: a regulator's cautious conclusion, a fish's physical distress, and a software model's forecast. Which of these would you trust most to guide a real decision, and why? Consider who produces each warning, what incentives they might have, and how easily each can be ignored.
5CREATIVE · HEADLINES
Write a headline for the top story in each of the following styles. One line each, no explanation:
  • TABLOID NEWSPAPER
  • LUXURY MAGAZINE
  • ACTIVIST BLOG
6WRITING
Imagine you are a civil servant at Defra who attended the May meeting with Vantara's representative. Write a short, candid internal email (80-100 words) to your minister summarising what was said and recommending how the department should respond.
7DEGREES OF EXTREMITY
Complete each ladder from mild to strong.
  • worried→→
  • rich→→
  • disagree→→
  • cautious→→
  • big→→
  • warm→→
8SPEAKING
  1. How much should a person's inherited wealth shape how we judge their projects?
  2. Is it fair to hold a regulator responsible when rules fail to stop abuses?
  3. What might a free public tool like GCAT change for amateur gardeners?
  4. When do transparency laws help the public more than they help journalists?