Martin, Sasha and Kangoo live in precarious conditions; the former zoo says the transfer is dangerous for the animals

The Association of Officials and Advocates for Animal Rights (AFADA), from Argentina, has filed an application for a collective habeas corpus for Buenos Aires Justice requesting that three chimpanzees living in Ecopark be declared “subjects of human rights”, with the aim of being released and transferred to a sanctuary in Brazil, the NGO said today.

Martín, Sasha and Kangoo are 49, 20 and 10 year old and live in “precarious conditions” at Ecopark, according to what Pablo Buompadre, president of the NGO that submitted the request, told Télam agency.

“After several attempts at consensus with the authorities to negotiate the transfer of the chimpanzees, who are in a state of precariousness, we decided to appeal once more to justice,” said Buompadre, adding that “there is already a precedent in national and international jurisprudence.”

Buompadre recalled the cases of the chimpanzee Cecília, who after an intervention by AFADA got the Justice of Mendoza to declare her a “non human person with rights” and last April was transferred to Sorocaba, São Paulo. And also the orangutan Sandra, inhabitant of Ecopark, who in December 2014 was declared a “nonhuman person”.

Sandra continues to be “objects of political and judicial tensions with which the parties that participated can not make an agreement,” said Buompadre, adding: “Neither the court nor the government gave a satisfactory answer, and today Sandra is alone, without congeners, without specialists to deal with it.”
Buomoadre explained that the Ecopark veterinarians argued against the transfer saying that “Martín can not do it because of his clinical history and since these animals are very sociable beings, if the other two are removed, all three of them could be life-threatening.”

The case, which began yesterday with the presentation of Habeas Corpus, takes place in the Criminal and Juvenile Offenses Forum nº 38, by Dr. Federico Villalba Diaz.

Ecopark administration sources said they had not yet been notified of the court appearance, but commented that “for a year and a half we have been working on the processes of animals that can be transferred and increasing the welfare standards of each of them “. And they added that the decision of their veterinarians not moving the chimpanzees “is being validated by international experts.”

Source (in Spanish): Clarin