Chimpanzee Monti is 45 years old. He spent all those years in the same prison, facing the audience, with no possibility of privacy or company. Monti is the oldest Argentine conscience prisoner because he is innocent of any wrongdoing. His only fault was born a nonhuman primate, and be used to entertain and amuse the audience attending the Zoo of Santiago del Estero in the country.

Monti will be dumped, but has no place to go. The Zoo is closing its doors, and soon nobody will harass him and laugh at him for being a prisoner.

AFADA organization – Association of Officials and Advocates for the Rights of Animals, through its Chairman, Dr. Pablo N. Buompadre, filed a Habeas Corpus considering illegitimate deprivation of liberty of Monti and requesting that the courts will recognize as a no human person, guaranteeing his fundamental rights, which are the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured or suffer physical or psychological ill-treatment

Judge Dario Alarcon and attorney Julio Vidal Carmelo should resolve the request of AFADA, and seem to agree to release Monti and send it to GAP Sanctuary in Sorocaba, in our country. However, the judicial process is time consuming, and can take weeks or months.

Monti is abandoned to his fate, after 45 years of imprisonment and survival. Possibly he is the chimpanzee who is more time in one place on the planet.  GAP Project visited him weeks ago. Monti does not keep hatred for humans that led him to the hell of loneliness, abandonment and exposure. We gave him a blanket, perhaps the first in his life in that icy night of Argentine city. Monti still knows  how to thank and repay the kindness of humans who fight for his freedom.

Argentina and its justice cannot avoid Monti to be happy in the company of his peers and without being explored. Judge Dario Alarcon, without even knowing, has in his hands the most important cause of his legal life: recognize that Monti is a no human person and free him. If he takes this decision, he will be making history in the legal universe of this unjust and cruel world. The present and future generations will thank him for having the courage to break the species barrier and do justice.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian

President, GAP Project International

Video: Monti at San Francisco de Asís Zoo