Sometimes the quiet corridors of government are where a question of conscience is most easily set aside, and this story turns on one such corridor. A private zoo built on a vast Indian estate, and the wealthy family behind it, sought the ear of British officials just as the UK prepared to chair a global body meant to police the trade in endangered creatures. The officials, advised to keep their distance, declined the invitation to see the zoo for themselves, and the matter now rests on whether a system built to protect wildlife can keep its own impartiality when influence arrives in pro bono f
UK Ministers Advised to Keep Distance from Ambani's Vantara Zoo Amid Lobbying Push
Ministers were told not to engage formally with Vantara
Mark
Why does a ministerial note about not engaging with a zoo matter?
Mimi
Because the UK is chairing the Cites committee that is reviewing India's imports. The note shows officials treating the lobbying as a risk to that neutral role. They also turned down the zoo visit for that reason.
Mark
What exactly were the lobbyists arguing?
Mimi
Per the briefing, that responsibility for checking legality lies mainly with exporting or re-exporting parties, not India as importer.
Luke
That's the briefing's description of Checkmate's aim. It's not a quote from Checkmate, and we don't know how the UK weighed it.
Mark
And the lobbying itself, was it disclosed?
Mimi
It's understood the two firms worked pro bono, so they didn't have to register with the consultant lobbyists registrar. Vantara says it hasn't hired or paid a lobbying firm.
Luke
Worth noting that the pro bono point is an understanding, not a confirmed fact. Who was behind the firms' work is not settled in what's reported.
Mark
What about the falcons?
Mimi
A £50,000 donation from an unnamed organisation to an unnamed UK breeder, which officials classed as commercial. The falcons never went to India.
Luke
And Vantara says it imported no falcons from the UK. We don't know who made the donation or why. Nothing here shows wrongdoing by Vantara.
Mark
So what's established about the zoo's imports?
Mimi
India's supreme court cleared the operators last year. Cites raised compliance concerns, then withdrew its restriction recommendation.
Luke
Both things are true at once, and Geneva is where that tension gets tested.
Der Puls
- Lobbyists for India's Vantara zoo approached UK ministers while Britain was chairing a CITES meeting on endangered species trade.
- Documents show a zoo visit was offered and quietly declined to protect the UK's impartial role.
- A falcon import application and a £50,000 unidentified 'donation' have drawn scrutiny over undisclosed commercial links.
- Vantara has paused animal imports for a year and hired a former CITES chief, a reset meant to ease mounting pressure.
- All eyes now turn to Geneva, where the CITES committee will decide whether India's compliance concerns are resolved.
Sometimes the quiet corridors of government are where a question of conscience is most easily set aside, and this story turns on one such corridor. A private zoo built on a vast Indian estate, and the wealthy family behind it, sought the ear of British officials just as the UK prepared to chair a global body meant to police the trade in endangered creatures. The officials, advised to keep their distance, declined the invitation to see the zoo for themselves, and the matter now rests on whether a system built to protect wildlife can keep its own impartiality when influence arrives in pro bono form.
In May, officials from the UK's environment department sat down with a representative of Vantara, the vast private zoo run by the Indian billionaire Anant Ambani, and with a US lobbying firm founded by a friend of Donald Trump Jr. The meeting and its aftermath were revealed through documents obtained by the Guardian and Mongabay. The timing was delicate: the UK was chairing a 32-country committee in Geneva that regulates trade in endangered species, and Vantara sat at the heart of compliance concerns about India's imports of wildlife.
Vantara, built on 1,400 hectares near the Ambani family's refineries in Gujarat, has reportedly gathered more than 150,000 animals since 2022. Its advertised welfare standards, including an elephant hydrotherapy pool, have not quieted conservationists who ask how so many endangered species were assembled so fast. A CITES fact-finding mission had already raised concerns in 2025 and recommended temporary restrictions on India, a recommendation later withdrawn.
The lobbying did not end with the meeting. A second firm acting for Vantara pressed ministers again about a zoo visit, and a department note advised them not to engage formally. Officials also examined a falcon import application linked to a mysterious £50,000 donation, which British regulators classed as commercial. Vantara denies importing from the UK or paying lobbyists, and says the firms worked pro bono. Having paused imports for a year and brought in a former CITES chief, the zoo is attempting a reset, while Geneva's review of India's compliance remains the next thing to watch.
In May, officials from the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs sat down with a representative of Vantara, the private mega-zoo run by the Indian billionaire Anant Ambani, and with a US lobbying firm, Checkmate Government Relations. Checkmate was founded by Ches McDowell, a hunting friend of Donald Trump Jr. The meeting, and what followed it, are laid out in documents obtained by the Guardian and the news outlet Mongabay under the UK's Freedom of Information Act.
The timing matters. This week the UK chairs a 32-country committee meeting in Geneva of Cites, the United Nations body that regulates trade in endangered species. The committee will examine how India has responded to compliance concerns about imports of endangered animals. Vantara is at the center of those concerns.
Ambani, 31, is the heir to the oil and gas fortune of Mukesh Ambani, one of India's richest men. He built Vantara on 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) near his family's oil-refining facilities in Gujarat. More than 150,000 animals have reportedly been gathered there since 2022. Vantara advertises high welfare standards, including an elephant hydrotherapy pool where more than 260 elephants can also receive oil therapies and Ayurvedic massage. Conservation groups have repeatedly asked how so many species, many of them endangered, were assembled so quickly. India's supreme court cleared the zoo's operators of wrongdoing last year.
A Cites fact-finding mission followed, and in 2025 it raised concerns about India's compliance with international rules on animal imports. It recommended temporary restrictions on India, though that recommendation was later withdrawn. Its November 2025 report warned of a need for caution so that imports of large numbers of animals by such facilities do not inadvertently create demand for illegally sourced animals.
Before the May meeting, internal briefing papers described Checkmate as seeking to persuade the UK to take a more sympathetic view of India's handling of imports to Vantara. Its argument was that responsibility for verifying legality sits mainly with exporting or re-exporting parties rather than with India as importer. At the meeting, the Vantara representative invited UK officials to visit the zoo. The invitation was declined, to protect the impartiality of the UK's role as Cites chair.
The approach did not stop there. Afterward, a representative of another lobbying firm acting for Vantara, Atlas Strategy, contacted the then secretary of state, Emma Reynolds, and the then nature minister, Mary Creagh, again raising a visit to the zoo. When a department official asked for guidance, a note recommended that ministers not engage formally with Vantara.
The documents also show concern over a Vantara application to import falcons and falcon hybrids. An unnamed organisation had made a £50,000 "donation" to a UK breeder, who was also not identified. British Cites officials classified the transaction as commercial. The falcons were not exported to India.
A Vantara spokesperson said the zoo had not imported falcons from the UK and had not hired or paid a lobbying firm. It is understood that Checkmate and Atlas Strategy worked pro bono and so were not required to register with the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.
After recent scrutiny, Vantara has sought to "reset" by voluntarily suspending animal imports for a year and hiring John Scanlon, a former Cites chief, to oversee operations. Ambani told the Sunday Times this year that he brings in animals only legally, for their welfare, citing hippos rescued from a South African hunting lodge and jackass penguins from a Qatari shopping centre. "I think since I was a baby I have been taking care of animals," he said. Vantara hosted his lavish 2024 pre-wedding celebrations, and in September Newcastle University gave him a professorship of practice, prompting a backlash from conservationists.
A Defra spokesperson said the UK has strict rules to protect endangered species, with every application assessed individually. Geneva's review of India's compliance is the next thing to watch.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
The UK has strict rules in place to protect endangered species, with every application assessed individually.— Defra spokesperson
I think since I was a baby I have been taking care of animals. It's always been a passion.— Anant Ambani, to the Sunday Times
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