Sandra at Buenos Aires Zoo
by Jamison Maeda
Sandra, a 29-year-old orangutan was born in captivity in Germany and was sent to the Buenas Aires Zoo in Argentina 20 years ago. Sandra was expected to live the rest of her life captive in the zoo entertaining tourists, until animal activists filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her imprisonment. The court agreed that Sandra deserves the basic rights as a non-human person, opening the possibility of her finally being freed from the zoo and sent to live in an animal sanctuary. This ruling will certainly pave the way for future animal rights cases, but it’s not the first of is kind.
Romania also considers dolphins to be non-human persons and gives them legal protection from being taken from their natural environment or removed from the group or family he or she belongs to.
New Zealand’s parliament passed a bill that confers some rights on chimpanzees and other primates, and protects them from animal experimentation.
Unfortunately the animal protection movement still has a long way to go. Earlier this month a U.S. court tossed out a petition for the freedom of Tommy the chimpanzee. The court ruled that a chimpanzee was not a person and not entitled to the rights and protections afforded by habeas corpus. The United States does however consider billion dollar corporations to be persons, enjoying many of the rights enjoyed by actual people, including the right to make donations to politicians and political organizations.
Country by country, the world is gradually moving away from captive animals in entertainment. Consumers are boycotting products tested on animals, and the cruelties of factory farming are no longer being ignored. Zoos and amusement parks like SeaWorld are receiving the message that animals are not objects, and activists around the world will continue the fight against animal cruelty.