Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition – a document used to challenge a human’s imprisonment – last month on behalf of Sumatran orangutan Sandra who turns 29 in February and lives at Buenos Aires Zoo.
The court agreed Sandra, who was born into captivity in Rostock Zoo, Germany, before being transferred to Argentina two decades ago, deserved basic rights and can now live in a sanctuary in Brazil. The zoo has 10 working days to file an appeal.
Buenos Aires Zoo's head of biology, Adrian Sestelo, rejected the idea that orangutans had emotional characteristics like humans and told La Nacion newspaper that they are naturally solitary animals who only come together 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 humanise animal behaviour,” he claimed.
Sandra once had a companion and gave birth to baby Shambira in 1999 before it had been taken to a different zoo, Sestelo said.
The successful case could pave the way for more petitions as the Association of Officials and Lawyers for Animal Rights argued that the orangutan – which means “forest man” in Malay and Indonesian – has sufficient cognitive ability and should not be treated as an object.
"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," said Afada lawyer Paul Buompadre as reported by La Nacion.
A court in the US this month threw out a similar case campaigning for the freedom of Tommy the chimpanzee, who was held by a private owner in New York. The state ruled that the chimp is not a “person” that is entitled to the rights and protections afforded by habeas corpus.
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SeaWorld whale shows could end if new legislation passes
Lawyer loses appeal for basic chimpanzee human rights
In 2011, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) took marine park operator SeaWorld to court over allegations that they treated five wild-captured orca whales like slaves. A San Diego court dismissed the case.
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