Bengaluru: After an on-site inspection at Vantara the Reliance-backed zoo and rescue complex in Jamnagar, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has told India to stop issuing import permits for wild animals until the country applies stronger checks and implements a set of CITES recommendations, The Wire has reported.

The CITES team visited Vantara between September 15 and 20 this year as part of an inquiry that followed media reports and complaints about a surge of international animal transfers to the Jamnagar facility. The inspection, and a CITES “compliance document” published this week, found multiple issues in the record and handling of some transfers and concluded that India had not applied adequate “due diligence” when it issued

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