After an uphill battle, with the help of a few friends, Cecilia the Chimpanzee will soon be freely roaming with other chimps in a sanctuary in Brazil.
Cecilia had spent most of her life trapped inside a cramped and lonely enclosure at the Mendoza Zoo in Argentina. Much of this time was spent in isolation as two of her companions had passed on years earlier. This loneliness had taken a terrible toll on her mindset and her spirit – driving her into a deep depression.
Cecilia’s plea for help caught the attention of a team of lawyers for Animal Rights (AFADA) and the Great Ape Project (or Proyecto Gran Simio). Together, they filed a case on Cecilia’s behalf arguing that, under the writ of habeas corpus, keeping the chimpanzee imprisoned at the zoo was unlawful.
Last November, Argentine Judge María Alejandra Mauricio ruled that Cecilia isn’t a thing — but is instead a being who is “subject to nonhuman rights.” She follows that up by ordering that Cecilia be released from the zoo and be allowed to live out her days at a chimpanzee sanctuary in Brazil.
This was the first successful habeas corpus case for an ape to come before a court and never before had it resulted in such a move.
“We’re not talking about the civil rights enshrined in the Civil Code, but instead the species’ own rights: to development, to life in their natural habitat,” said Mauricio.
This decision would mean that Cecilia’s life was about to change and she’d finally know what freedom felt like.
Cecilia was freed from her cage and flown north into Brazil. The lush, green and vast sanctuary that stood before her was the place she would now call home.
The sanctuary is operated by the Great Ape Project. Its mission is to ensure that all chimps rescued from confinement have a chance to live in peace in the company of one another.
The Great Ape Project’s executive director Pedro Pozas Terrados believes that they are already starting to see huge improvements in her mental state. “It was incredible,” said Terrados. “Before, she was in a small concrete cage, unable to even see the sky. Now, she is touching the grass. Her appetite has returned; she is doing very well. The change has been from night to day.”
After passing through quarantine checks, Cecilia is now free to explore and socialize with other chimpanzees in her wonderful new home!
“[Cecilia] is the first nonhuman primate who got her freedom thanks to a human legal instrument!” writes the Great Ape Project in a statement. “We hope this example will be followed in other cases so that many other Great Apes who are being exploited in terrible captivity may also be released.”
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SOROCABA – BRASIL
DIA 1
Primeras imagenes de Cecilia en el Santuario
Reconociendo su Recinto
Afada Ong
Posted by Afada Ong on Thursday, April 6, 2017
