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Argentinian court decides if keeping orangutan in zoo is a human rights violation

Sandra the orangutan has been defined as a cognitive 'non-human subject'

Sophie McIntyre

Friday 15 May 2015 16:02 BST

Sandra, the 29-year-old orangutan, is pictured at Buenos Aires' zoo (JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images)

An Argentinian orangutan could be released from Buenos Aires Zoo, after being permitted legal representation on the grounds that she is a ‘non-human subject'.

Court proceedings, pertaining to the release of Sandra the female orangutan from Buenos Aires Zoo, have re-started in the capital this week.

The Association of Professional Lawyers for Animal Rights (AFADA) is calling for Buenos Aires Zoo to release the ape on the grounds that keeping her in a zoo is a form of mistreatment.

Orangutans in Kalimantan (Mike Unwin)

The orangutan has been a resident of Buenos Aires Zoo for 21 years and: "is the first great ape to have legal representation in a criminal case in Argentina," according to Pablo Buompadre, Director of AFADA director.

"What we want, through whatever path necessary, is the release of Sandra from the sanctuary, and her right to freedom of movement and a dignified life is respected," he added.

Where not to visit if you love animals

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1/9Where not to visit if you love animals

Where not to visit if you love animals

Monkey shows

Chimpanzees are forced to perform demeaning tricks on leashes and are often subject to cruel training techniques. Animals who are confined to small, barren enclosures and forced to perform unsurprisingly show symptoms of stress and depression. Chimpanzees have been documented rocking back and forth, sucking their lips, salivating and swaying against enclosure perimeters in distress.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Marine parks

Some parks confine orcas to concrete tanks and force them to perform meaningless tricks for food - many die in captivity. Orcas are highly intelligent and social mammals who may suffer immensely, both physically and mentally, when they're held in captivity.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Tiger shows

Tigers are forced to live in an unnatural and barren environment and have to endure interactions with a constant stream of tourists. Since tigers never lose their wild instincts, across the world they are reportedly drugged, mutilated and restrained in order to make them “safe” for the public. However, every year, incidents of tiger maulings are reported at this type of tourist attraction.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Donkey rides

Sunning on the beach is great for humans – we can take a quick dip or catch a bite to eat when we get too hot or hungry. But it's pure hell for donkeys who are confined to the beach and forced to cart children around on the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts in the UK even keep the animals chained together at all times.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Swimming with dolphins

Some marine parks use bottlenose dolphins in performances and offer visitors the opportunity to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, people are often unaware that these animals are captured in the wild and torn from their families or traded between different parks around the world.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Canned hunting

Lions are confined to fenced areas so that they can easily be cornered, with no chance of escape. Most of them will have been bred in captivity and then taken from their mothers to be hand-reared by the cub-petting industry. When they get too big, they may be drugged before they are released into a "hunting" enclosure. Because these animals are usually kept in fenced enclosures (ranging in size from just a few square yards to thousands of acres), they never stand a chance of surviving.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Running of the Bulls

Every year, tourists travel to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. The bulls who are forced to slip and slide down the town's narrow cobblestone streets are chased straight into the bullring. They are then taunted, stabbed repeatedly and finally killed by the matador in front of a jeering crowd. The majority of Spaniards reject bullfighting, but tourists are keeping the cruel industry on its last legs.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Horse-drawn carriages

City streets are no place for horses. The animals toil in all weather extremes, suffering from respiratory distress from breathing in exhaust fumes as well as numerous hoof, leg and back problems from walking on pavement all day long. As easily spooked prey animals, horses subjected to the loud noises and unexpected sounds of city streets are likely to be involved in accidents, even deadly ones.

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Where not to visit if you love animals

Zoos

The zoo community regards the animals it keeps as commodities, and animals are regularly bought, sold, borrowed and traded without any regard for established relationships. Zoos breed animals because the presence of babies draws visitors and boosts revenue, yet often, there's nowhere to put the offspring as they grow, and they are killed, as we saw with Marius the giraffe in Denmark. Some zoos have introduced evening events with loud music and alcohol which disrupt the incarcerated animals even further.

EPA

At the end of last month, an Argentinian judge ruled that AFADA could become a plaintiff in the case, since the ape is: "is de facto not competent".

In addition, the court suggested that her legal representation was "necessary and required" because the animal's well-being "might be damaged by human mistreatment," it has been reported.

This week’s proceedings follow a high profile court case back in late 2014, when the AFADA filed allegations of mistreatment and ‘illegal deprecation of liberty’ against Buenos Aires Zoo.

The court then concluded that Sandra was a cognitive ‘non-human subject’ who was not to be defined as a passive ‘thing’, according to the Buenos Aires Herald.

According to Mr Buompadre, this week’s hearing highlights a shift in the way animal rights cases are approached, and in particular the new focus on animals as sentient beings.

Buenos Aires Zoo is currently renovating Sandra’s enclosure, following vets’ recommendations that the enclosure was in need of "environmental enrichment".

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