{"id":758897,"date":"2019-11-24T08:33:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T13:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=758897"},"modified":"2019-11-24T08:38:06","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T13:38:06","slug":"orangutan-sandras-personhood-victory-brings-hope-to-u-s-animal-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=758897","title":{"rendered":"Madam Sandra’s ‘personhood’ victory brings hope to U.S. animal rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Animals live and die in hidden factory farms and hidden laboratories. They\u2019re not going to court, so we\u2019re not going to solve this in the courts. People have to solve it in their hearts, in their behavior, and politically by passing laws.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

RUPA SHENOY:<\/strong> ‘ \u201cShe walked into her room. She was just engaged and interested. Very calm,\u201d said Patti Ragan, founding director of Sandra, the orangutan’s new home, the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida. \u201cShe looked at every single toy left in there for her, foraged around for food in the hay, and got some blankets, went up and made a nest, and slept well.\u201d Sandra landed at the center this month because she\u2019s a hybrid of two orangutan subspecies, and Indonesia, one of the native environments for orangutans \u2014 where most preferred sanctuaries are located \u2014 has banned orangutans like her from its sanctuaries.<\/em><\/p>\n

As part of implementing Sandra’s new rights, the Argentinian judge wanted her to live at an accredited facility \u2014 and the Florida center was the only one in the Americas that met those standards. Her arrival has raised the hopes of US activists who are trying to match the successes of lawyers who turn to the courts to fight for animal rights around the world. \u201cThe animal law movement focused on using the legal system itself really grew out of the United States. …But the most remarkable progress we’ve seen has been outside of the United States with things like the Sandra case in South America”…<\/em><\/p>\n

Steven Wise, who heads the nonprofit Nonhuman Rights Project and teaches animal rights jurisprudence at the law school at Tel Aviv University, is bringing many of the cases arguing for personhood for animals in the US. He hopes Sandra\u2019s case may sway US judges, even if it cannot officially serve as a precedent in US courts. \u201cWe’re not saying that they\u2019re bound by those decisions,\u201d Wise said. \u201cWe’re simply saying that the world is changing outside of your courtroom, and you may want to change with it.\u201d So far American judges haven\u2019t been persuaded by his arguments…<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we care about Sandra, why don\u2019t we care about all of them?\u201d asked Mariann Sullivan, a lecturer in animal law at Columbia Law School and co-host of the Animal Law Podcast. She points out that these court cases only apply to individual animals, not animals as a class. \u201cAnimals live and die in hidden factory farms and hidden laboratories. They\u2019re not going to court, so we\u2019re not going to solve this in the courts. People have to solve it in their hearts, in their behavior, and politically by passing laws”…<\/em><\/p>\n

While those arguments play out, Sandra\u2019s enjoying an aerial network of tunnels and her own heated and cooled indoor and outdoor spaces at the Center for Great Apes. Ragan, the director, says that the lifestyle for Sandra costs more than $20,000 per year. The center is funded by donations and grants and isn\u2019t open to the public. And Ragan said Sandra doesn\u2019t have to worry about being pushed into mating.<\/em> SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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