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Captive orangutan has human right to
freedom, Argentine court rules
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[December 22, 2014]
By Richard Lough
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.
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 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.
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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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