ARGENTINA-ORANGUTAN Captive orangutan has human right to freedom, Argentine court rules

Record ID: 448529

  • Title: ARGENTINA-ORANGUTAN Captive orangutan has human right to freedom, Argentine court rules
  • Date: 22nd December 2014
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (DECEMBER 22, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF BUENOS AIRES ZOO VARIOUS OF SANDRA THE ORANGUTAN IN HER ENCLOSURE VARIOUS OF ZOO'S CHIEF BIOLOGIST ADRIAN SESTELO SPEAKING WITH REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BUENOS AIRES ZOO'S CHIEF BIOLOGIST ADRIAN SESTELO SAYING: "No, the decision does not surprise us and it does not inconvenient us in any way
  • Embargoed: 6th January 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7W27HF907DGKFSFF1JFU4YEGD
  • Story Text: 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 (December 21).
    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 case 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."
    The zoo's chief biologist, Adrian Sestelo, said he was not surprised by the ruling and that the zoo had plans to move Sandra prior to the ruling.
    "No, the decision does not surprise us and it does not inconvenient us in any way because we have already been working towards transferring her for more than a year. Why? Because in our collections plan we have evaluated that in order for us to include more indigenous species and a different work structure it was no longer necessary to keep maintaining the orangutan here and for that, we started to research where (to send her). We have various locations where we could send her, one of them, would be Brazil with the people working on the great ape project and with whom we are in contact and talk constantly. What should happen, going beyond the ruling, is to have a plan in place where to move her and the possible places where she could be moved should comply with the same conditions that she [Sandra] has here," said Sestelo.
    Andres Gil Dominguez, a lawyer for AFADA, commented on the landmark ruling.
    "[ON OFF WITH PICTURES OF SANDRA] it's an unprecedented ruling, the first of its kind on a global scale where the court [ON] establishes that a primate is a subject of law, it in a non-human person who has certain rights and who can assert them in a judicial process," said Dominguez.
    Orangutan is a word from the Malay and Indonesian languages that means "forest man."
    They are calm, solitary animals which come together only to mate and care for their young.
    Adrian Sestolo is a local biologist.
    "I don't want to get involved in the legal sphere because that is not my specialty; I am a biologist, this is a technical area. What I do think is that for us biologists, conservationists, those of us working in the world of zoos and free life there is not one single animal that is a thing. They are all individuals, they have their rights and inherent life so it sounds strange to me that they think that there are animals that can be superior and others that are inferior, or some with cognitive capacity and others without cognitive capacity. They are all wild animals, we are all species on this planet, each one has different characteristics and we all have the same right to life so I think that humanizing certain behaviours is a grave mistake because we are distorting and leaving aside the rest of the species," said Sestolo.
    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.
    Sestolo said that the fact that Sandra reproduced demonstrated her well-being in the zoo.
    "Sandra was born in Rostock,Germany almost 30 years ago. She will be 29 in February. She was moved 20 years ago here to the Buenos Aires Zoo and has been living here ever since. At one point each one lived in separate enclosures because orangutans are solitary animals. With a male she had offspring. That also shows you the conditions for well-being with this case in this zoo because the first thing an animal loses when it is not living well is reproduction, that is biologically natural," said Sestolo.
    The Buenos Aires Zoo has 10 working days to seek an appeal.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register