Argentine judge Elena Liberatori in 2015 ruled that Sandra was legally not an animal but a non-human person who has rights, turning the orangutan who has only known concrete enclosures into a focus of world attention.
ALMUDENA CALATRAVA: ‘Sandra shows little interest as she slowly shuffles past the structure of beams and ropes built for her to climb on inside her concrete enclosure in Argentina’s capital. Outside are tall buildings and traffic that bear no resemblance to the lush forests where orangutans naturally live. But the unstimulating, solitary life of the 33-year-old orangutan with gentle eyes and dark-red hair will take a turn Thursday when she leaves Buenos Aires for the United States…
It has been a long journey for Sandra, who was born in a zoo in Germany and moved to Argentina a quarter century ago. She has lived most of her life in a basketball court-sized cell in the more-than-century-old Buenos Aires zoo, in conditions protested by animal rights groups as inadequate. Her release seemed possible in 2014 following a landmark court ruling that she was entitled to some legal rights enjoyed by humans and better living conditions…
“There she will be able to spend the rest of her life in a more dignified situation,” said Argentine judge Elena Liberatori, who in 2015 ruled that Sandra was legally not an animal but a non-human person who has rights, turning the orangutan who has only known limited concrete enclosures into a focus of world attention… Liberatori’s 2015 ruling was in response to a complaint by an Argentine animal rights group that Sandra was living in inadequate conditions.
“With that ruling I wanted to tell society something new, that animals are sentient beings and that the first right they have is our obligation to respect them,” she told The Associated Press. Liberatori has a large picture of Sandra in her office. On the picture is a twig that Sandra passed through the bars of her enclosure to anyone outside willing to interact with her… “I am happy, but a bit nervous that everything goes well,” said Liberatori. “After she arrives in the sanctuary I will visit her. It is going to be a very happy moment for me”.’ SOURCE…
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