Vantara, the wildlife rescue centre for captive elephants and other wild animals in Gujarat’s Jamnagar, is all set to welcome 20 elephants that were recently rescued from the exploitative logging industry in Arunachal Pradesh. The elephants include 10 males, eight females, one sub-adult, and one calf.

A press release by Vantara said the elephants will be transported from Arunachal Pradesh to the rescue centre in Jamnagar in specially-designed elephant ambulances.

The rescue operation, carried out with the approval of the High Powered Committee constituted by the Tripura High Court and entrusted by the Supreme Court, has been conducted with the full consent of the current owners of the animals.

The elephants will soon find their permanent home at Vantara, an environment that naturally mirrors their native habitat, where they will live chain-free and will never be forced into labour, the press release said.

Earlier, a controversy erupted after Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah accused the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of sending elephants from the state to industrialist Mukesh Ambani's Vantara animal rescue centre.

Borah said that the relocation of elephants was part of an attempt by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to appease industrialist Mukesh Ambani.

The Assam Chief Minister's Office, however, rejected the allegations by the Congress's state, calling them "unwarranted and false".

Responding to the allegations, Assam's Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said, "It is hereby clarified that no elephants have been transported from Assam in the recent past. Certain news items and social media posts published linking Assam to such activities are completely unwarranted and false."

Source: India Today