Some readers may recall a 1975 Disney comedy called One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing starring Peter Ustinov with an absurd plot involving Chinese spies hiding a secret microfilm inside the bones of a dinosaur at the Natural History Museum. The plot could only belong to the realm of Hollywood comedy fiction.

Alas, today, when fake news and social media can so easily blur the lines between fiction and reality, the media and especially the strategic comms and public affairs community need to be on their guard.

A story has reached The Mace newsroom which underlines – with sublime absurdity – just how quickly fake news can take hold: that (to coin the phrase frequently misattributed to Winston Churchill), “a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its trousers on”.

The Ambani family is the richest in India – and indeed Asia – best known for its oil and telecoms businesses worth c.£175 billion, and, in the UK, for its ownership of toy shop Hamley’s on Regent Street. Anant Ambani, noted conservationist and youngest son of family head Mukesh Ambani, has set up the world’s biggest animal sanctuary and conservation centre, Vantara. It sits in 4,500 acres in Gujarat, caring for 150,000 endangered animals from 2,000 species and 44 countries, all brought to Vantara, with 22 state-of-the-art hospitals.

“Should these claims have been true, it would be a bizarre heist – and damaging one for a family of such importance in international business circles”

On Wednesday this week, a report appeared in The Independent newspaper, titled ‘Bangladesh says two stolen lemurs have been taken to billionaire’s private zoo in India’ and stating that “Two ring-tailed lemurs stolen from a safari park in Bangladesh have reportedly been found at a zoo run by India’s richest family. The lemurs were part of a trio stolen from the Gazipur Safari Park in March 2025 and smuggled abroad, Bangladesh’s Criminal Investigation Department said.

Should these claims have been true, it would be a bizarre heist – and a reputationally damaging one for a family of such importance in international business circles. However, both Vantara and the Bangladeshi CID have expressly contradicted the report.

Vantara has called the allegations “entirely false and baseless”, adding “Vantara is not accused in [this] case. It has received no notice or request from any investigating agency. Vantara has had no dealing with any of the persons named in [the] report” – while Bangladesh’s CID Special Superintendent of Police Chufi Ullah has made clear that investigators had established that two lemurs were trafficked into India, but specifically denied that the CID had confirmed that the animals were at Vantara – which has offered full assistance in ascertaining the facts. 

While this tale, which we will refrain from dubbing LemurGate, appears lighthearted, the absurdity belies a serious point. Public Affairs professionals can spend months, if not years, ensuring a global business or UHNW family is properly reflected in Whitehall and in media, but it only takes one false story to undermine efforts.