From distance we did not understand the situation quite completely. A Habeas Corpus filed by the AFADA Organization for the release of the chimpanzee Cecilia obtained a positive Judgment from a Court of Guarantees of the Mendoza Province that recognized her as a Subject of Law – a non-human person – and that she should be released from an infamous 20-year captivity.

An armed conspiracy by those who defend zoos as an entertainment business and profit was forcing the judgment not to be enforced, postponing it. We requested the authorization of IBAMA, in Brazil, and waited for six months for the arrival of Cecilia; in the end, the judgment was put into practice and we had to request the renewal of this authorization. In those six months, people from outside and inside the Zoo conspired against the judicial decision and the determination of the Environment Department of Mendoza, which agreed with the transfer to Brazil.

Going further, we now know that when the new Federal Administration took office in Argentina, also in Mendoza, the executive positions were changed. A new Administration with Ecological Concept entered the Secretariat of Environment and Territorial Ordering and transformed the Zoo into an Eco-Park. The new Secretary of the Environment, Humberto Daniel Mingorance, appointed Dr. Mariana Caram as Director of the Eco-Park, with the objective of replacing all animals and transforming it into an Ecological Park, ceasing their exploration. That zoo, with 2000 animals, like many others, is a tale of terror. To list some data: it has 120 baboons in a single enclosure; 30 lions that only take sun once a month; a bear that has been living in a homeless cubicle and isolated from the world for more than 10 years, and so on, with dozens of other cases that are in fact an environmental crime of the worst kind. Of the four Eco-Park vets , who can´t be fired  because they are Government employees, three opposed Cecilia´s trasnfer. Only Dr. Georgina Lagrava agreed and accompanied Cecilia’s trip until her arrival in Sorocaba.

Throughout this struggle to avoid her transfer, all kinds of devices were used to sow doubts with us and with the public, so that the transfer would not happen.

A couple who were sneaking around financed the entire campaign through the media to prevent the transfer. A lawyer was hired to file a precautionary action to prevent execution of the judgment, claiming that “Cecilia was a property of the Province of Mendoza, that she would be forbidden to be disposed.” Judge Dr. Mauricio again ratified with clarity and energy her decision and gave a definite time limit for the transfer to be carried out.

During all this time, we kept silent, since we did not know what was really going on and giving opinions might help those who wanted to keep Cecilia as a prisoner. On March 30th we made our first announcement of the transfer, since the press was asking us about it for several weeks before.

The plan of Mingorance and Caram were already well designed and the risks of being boycotted were lower. But immediately the threats and the rumors began. The selfishness of the Human Being is so great that they reached the point of calling Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, informing that Cecilia was sick and that they should not authorize her entrance.

To prevent any accident to happen, the complete Delegation of support that went from Mendoza to Buenos Aires had the Director of Fauna of the Province and the own Veterinary that attested Cecilia´s health conditions.  One last move, which shows the low ethics of professionals who must watch over the lives of animals, came too late. The College of Veterinary Doctors of the Province of Mendoza sent a statement to the Brazilian Federal Council of Veterinary Medicine (CRMV), denouncing that Cecilia’s health certificate had been signed by a human doctor and not by a veterinarian. The Veterinary Council of São Paulo, without confirming the validity of the information, raised the complaint to our Ministry of Agriculture to prevent the entry of Cecilia in Brazil.

Meanwhile, Cecilia was already on her way to the Great Primates Sanctuary of Sorocaba. She arrived at 7:00 pm on April 5, after a 48-hour journey from the Eco-Park of Mendoza.

Cecilia was born in the Zoo, lived 20 years in a 20-square-meter cement cage with grids on all sides, including the ceiling. She had been kept half a meter away from the audience, which constantly teased her. Her three companions died prematurely due to the life in that terrifying place. She is a survivor.

The zoos are this, centers of torture and mental disturbance of all the animals that live there, to serve as entertainment to an audience that increasingly understands that those centers should had been extincted a long time ago, if, in fact, we respect the Animal Kingdom.

The meaning of the arrival of Cecilia in our Sanctuary and its integration with her brothers chimpanzees transcends Brazil and extends throughout the world. The Judge’s Sentence is clear: “A Great Primate is a  Subject of Rights,” we cannot disregard their rights as it has been done for over a century since the first Zoo was born of the unbalanced mind of some humans.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian

General  Secretary, GAP Project International