Indonesia Expands Wildlife Health, In-situ Conservation Efforts with Vantara Support
Jakarta, Aug 24 (TNT): Indonesia on Monday announced an expansion of its wildlife health infrastructure and in-situ conservation efforts with support from Vantara, an animal welfare and conservation organisation founded by Reliance Industries Executive Director Anant Ambani.
Indonesia’s Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said the partnership would strengthen the country’s wildlife health and conservation infrastructure, with the facilities and programmes developed under the cooperation to be owned, operated and managed by the Indonesian government and relevant authorities, the organisation said in a release here.
The initiatives include capacity-building programmes for elephant caregivers, veterinarians and other wildlife officials, 10 mobile hospitals to provide treatment to wild animals in their natural habitats, and the upgradation of the Way Kambas Elephant Hospital into an Elephant Treatment and Care Centre.
The upgraded facility will have advanced equipment, tools and technologies and will support 62 Sumatran elephants under human care and nearly 100 wild Sumatran elephants in the surrounding landscape.
Vantara CEO Vivaan Karani said the organisation would provide its expertise in wildlife health, veterinary care, animal husbandry and conservation while also learning from Indonesia’s conservation experience.
Fauna Land CEO Danny Gunalen said the cooperation would help strengthen local capacity and infrastructure for wildlife care.
The programme is part of an existing Memorandum of Understanding between the Indonesian government and Vantara covering wildlife health, animal welfare and conservation.
The broader cooperation covers wildlife health and veterinary care, in-situ and ex-situ conservation, animal welfare, conservation breeding, rehabilitation, rewilding and capacity building.
Vantara will provide veterinary and animal-care expertise, technical support, infrastructure assistance and capacity-building programmes in coordination with the Indonesian government, relevant national institutions and PT Fauna Land Group.
The collaboration follows Vantara’s recently released Five-Year Plan and marks an expansion of its international conservation engagement, extending expertise developed at its Jamnagar facility to support wildlife health, animal care and in-situ conservation initiatives.
The organisation said the partnership was also aligned with its recent voluntary commitments to India’s CITES management authority to further support conservation in the natural range of wildlife.
The Indonesian government and Vantara will continue developing the identified areas of cooperation in accordance with Indonesia’s national conservation priorities and applicable laws and policies.
TNT TS
