Vantara Row: CITES Reverses Earlier Recommendation to India About Banning Imports of Endangered Wildlife

The decision to reverse the recommendation was taken after several countries including India, the United States, Japan and Brazil said the measure was too premature, with some also saying there was no evidence of illegal imports into India.

The Wire Staff

vantara row cites reverses earlier recommendation to india about banning imports of endangered wildlife

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Vantara. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which is a UN wildlife trade body, on Sunday (November 23) reversed its previous recommendation which had asked India to not issue permits for importing endangered animals.

Earlier, the CITES had made the recommendation after visiting Vantara, Reliance’s zoo cum rescue centre in September this year.

A CITES document published earlier this month had raised several questions about animal transfers to Vantara and said that India did not conduct ‘due diligence’ while issuing import permits for several transfers to the facility. The CITES investigation had revealed numerous concerns in the transfers of wild animals including a lone mountain gorilla from Haiti, chimpanzees from Congo and an orangutan, the document showed.

However, at the CITES meeting in Uzbekistan which was live streamed on Sunday, the earlier recommendation was reversed. The decision to reverse the recommendation was taken after several countries including India, the United States, Japan and Brazil said the measure was too premature, with some also saying there was no evidence of illegal imports into India, reported Reuters on Sunday.

"There doesn't seem to be enough support for retaining (the) recommendation," said Naimah Aziz, Chair of the CITES Standing Committee. Azis added that it could consider if further regulatory measures were needed.

In its earlier report, CITES had also mentioned instances of how the Indian government used the recent ‘clean chit’ given to Vantara by the Supreme Court to state that Vantara’s wild animal imports were in order.

Prior to the reversal of the recommendation on Sunday, CITES had asked India to get its act together and recommended India should not issue any more import permits until it follows due diligent processes and implements CITES recommendations. India was also asked to submit a report about this to the CITES before its 81st Standing Committee meeting.

Vantara, in a press release on November 4, had claimed that the CITES gave “a clean chit” to the facility, and that it had noted that all animal transfers to the facility were “fully legitimate and transparent, in accordance with Indian law”.

This article went live on November twenty-third, two thousand twenty five, at one minutes past seven in the evening.

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