Argentina court case: rights of Sandra the orangutan

Summary

In 2015, the federal criminal cassation chamber of Buenos Aires declared Sandra the orangutan a “non-human person,” citing the species as intelligent, sentient beings, with many similarities to humans both genetically and culturally. The court ruled that experts in conjunction with the Buenos Aires Zoo evaluate Sandra’s living conditions and dictate improvements for Sandra’s mental and physical well-being.

Lawyers for Argentina’s Association of Professional Lawyers for Animal Rights (Afada) had filed a “habeas corpus” writ on behalf of Sandra over “the unjustified confinement of an animal with probable cognitive capability”. They argued that Sandra was a “non-human person” and was being detained illegally in Buenos Aires’ zoo. The case was rejected several times before the court finally ruled that Sandra could be considered to have certain rights as a “non-human person” and agreed Sandra was being illegally deprived of freedom. On January 28, 2015, a court ordered that Sandra be transferred to a sanctuary. The Buenos Aires municipal government, which runs the zoo, was instructed to move Sandra “within the next few months” either to the Great Primates Sanctuary Sorocaba in Brazil, or the Center for Great Apes Sanctuary in Florida, USA.

Implementation
Despite the court ruling, it did not initially mean that Sandra could leave the Buenos Aires Zoo. Sandra continued to be detained for several years while the process played out.

On June 27, 2016, the Buenos Aires city government announced that the municipal zoo, where Sandra had been imprisoned for 22 years, would be closed within a year.
However, Sandra was one of the few animals not to be transferred, and she continued to be kept in her original enclosure, although no longer on public display. AFADA lawyers therefore went to court again and obtained a ruling that Sandra must be moved immediately to a larger enclosure. The Buenos Aires city administration was either unwilling or unable to comply with this decision, and Sandra’s immediate transfer to the Center for Great Apes in Florida was ordered.

On September 26, 2019, Sandra arrived in the USA, and after completing a 40-day quarantine period, she arrived at the Center for Great Apes in Florida, where she lives alongside 30 other orangutans.

Impact Statement

Sandra was the first non-human animal to be recognized as a legal subject by a court. While the Argentinian court’s ruling is considered to be groundbreaking, the court order struggled to be implemented. In the years following, Argentina began to further recognize non human subjects (animals) as holders of rights. In 2016, a court in Mendoza recognized the rights of Cecilia the chimpanzee, and in 2022, a court in Buenos Aires declared a puma named Lola to be a “subject of rights”.

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