Captive orangutan has human right to freedom, Argentine court rules
Captive orangutan has human right to freedom, Argentine
court rules
By Richard Lough | Reuters – Sun, 21 Dec, 2014
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An orangutan held in an
Argentine zoo can be freed and transferred to a sanctuary after a court
recognized the ape as a "non-human person" unlawfully deprived of its
freedom, local media reported on Sunday.
Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition
- a document more typically used to challenge the legality of a person's
detention or imprisonment - in November on behalf of Sandra, a 29-year-old
Sumatran orangutan at the Buenos Aires zoo.
In a landmark ruling that could pave the way for more
lawsuits, the Association of Officials and Lawyers for Animal Rights (AFADA)
argued the ape had sufficient cognitive functions and should not be treated as
an object.
The court agreed Sandra, born into captivity in Germany
before being transferred to Argentina two decades ago, deserved the basic
rights of a "non-human person."
"This opens the way not only for other Great Apes,
but also for other sentient beings which are unfairly and arbitrarily deprived
of their liberty in zoos, circuses, water parks and scientific
laboratories," the daily La Nacion newspaper quoted AFADA lawyer Paul
Buompadre as saying.
Orangutan is a word from the Malay and Indonesian
languages that means "forest man."
Sandra's case is not the first time activists have sought
to use the habeas corpus writ to secure the release of wild animals from
captivity.
A U.S. court this month tossed out a similar bid for the
freedom of 'Tommy' the chimpanzee, privately owned in New York state, ruling
the chimp was not a "person" entitled to the rights and protections
afforded by habeas corpus.
In 2011, the animal rights group People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a lawsuit against marine park operator
SeaWorld, alleging five wild-captured orca whales were treated like slaves. A
San Diego court dismissed the case.
The Buenos Aires zoo has 10 working days to seek an
appeal.
A spokesman for the zoo declined to comment to Reuters.
The zoo's head of biology, Adrian Sestelo, told La Nacion that orangutans were
by nature calm, solitary animals which come together only to mate and care for
their young.
"When you don't know the biology of a species, to
unjustifiably claim it suffers abuse, is stressed or depressed, is to make one
of man's most common mistakes, which is to humanize animal behavior,"
Sestelo told the daily.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
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