Posted on 12/22/2014 7:30:21 AM PST by HomerBohn
(Reuters/REUTERS - An orangutan named Sandra, covered with a blanket, gestures inside its cage at Buenos Aires' Zoo, in this December 8, 2010 file photo. An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed)
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.
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."
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
It won’t be long now. You’ll be able to marry apes and monkeys in Argentina! Cool!
Boy, do I feel like an ape./s
And run for office?...
Hell, why not!?! Here in the U.S., we put a whole family in the White House and are covering their room and board!!!
What human responsibilities go with those rights?
Can apes now be charged with crimes? When do they start paying taxes?
The important question is:
Can they be licensed to carry firearms?
Now don’t go ape sh*t on us!
How far can this be taken? If a non-human can be a person entitled to protection, does a developing non-human have entitlement to protection?
However bad things get here, at least it's not as bad as Argentina!
“Captive orangutan has human right to freedom...”
...and, instate tuition.
LOL!
The judge more likely wants to marry it.
Damn! You beat me to it.
The monkey did appear in front of the feckless judge, but due to the sometimes vicious nature of the species the handler had installed a protective screen around the animal’s mouth.
The judge was so enthralled by the creature that he was heard to exclaim, “Take that mask off him....I want to kiss him.”
With that all spectators cleared the courtroom as they knew their stomachs just could digest such a scene.
America would have been much better off had we been invaded by hoards of orangutans than millions of unwashed, disease ridden denizens from south of the border.
“America would have been much better off had we been invaded by hoards of orangutans than millions of unwashed, disease ridden denizens from south of the border.”
Oh, how I wish where was a ‘like’ button on this forum.
Sneak him across the Southern border and he gets more than that.
So, what are they going to do? Set her free? She won’t last long. She’ll be free and dead.
But at least some people can feel good about themselves, right? And isn’t that what’s really important?
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