Reliance Industries to set up 'world's largest zoo' in Gujarat

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is set to build what it claims to be the world's largest zoo in Gujarat's Jamnagar, a top company executive said on Saturday. The zoo will house close to 100 different species of animals, birds and reptiles from India and across the world.

It will be built on about 280-acre land, close to the company's refinery project at Moti Khavdi near Jamnagar.

The zoo will be up and running in the next two years provided it does not face any hurdles.

This is a pet project of Anant Ambani, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani's youngest son. "It will be called 'Greens Zoological, Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom'. All the required approvals from central and state government authorities concerned have already been obtained," Parimal Nathwani, RIL Director (corporate affairs) told Times of India.

The zoo will host a variety of species including barking deers, slender loris, sloth bears, fishing cats, komodo dragons, Indian wolves and Rosy pelicans as per the proposal. Apart from these, the zoo will also be home to six each of crowned cranes, jaguars and African lions, besides 12 ostriches, 20 giraffes, 18 meerkats, 10 spectacled caiman, seven cheetahs, African elephants and nine Great Indian Bustards.

This centre is a CSR initiative meant to aid the forest department in sheltering big cats like leopards that have been injured or come into conflict with humans, Nathwani added.

As per the plan layout shared on the Central Zoo Authority's website, there will be sections like 'Forest of India', 'Frog House', 'Insect Life', 'Dragon's Land', 'Exotic Island', 'Wild Trail of Gujarat' and 'Aquatic Kingdom' among others. RIL has also set up a rescue centre at Jamnagar where a few leopards were recently shifted from the wild by the state forest department.

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