Cases of humans exploiting and abusing animals have only risen with time. However, a country in South America has taken a step in the right direction and made sure that wild animals get the rights they deserve and live freely without being exploited.?
Ecuador, a South American country has become the first country in the world to give legal rights to wild animals.?The highest court in the country has ruled in favour of the case that focused on a woolly monkey who was taken from her home to a zoo, where she passed just a week later.
Estrellita was just a month old when she was taken away from the wild so that she could become a pet for librarian Ana Beatriz Burbano Proa?o.
Proa?o took care of Estrellita for 18 years, however, was seized by authorities in 2019, as owning wild animals is illegal in the South American country. After being relocated to a zoo, the monkey sadly died.Following the tragic incident, the owner Ana Beatriz Burbano Proa? filed a habeas corpus asking the court to rule that the monkey's rights were violated.
The court decided to rule in favour of Estrellita and said that her rights had been violated by the government. However, they added that the animal's rights were also violated by the owner when she removed her from her natural habitat at a young age.
A Harvard law professor,?Kristen Stilt?spoke to?Inside Climate News?about the importance of Ecuador's ruling.?She said: “What makes this decision so important is that now the rights of nature can be used to benefit small groups or individual animals.“That makes rights of nature a far more powerful tool than perhaps we have seen before.”
Hugo Echeverria who is an environmental lawyer said in a?press release: “This verdict raises animal rights to the level of the constitution, the highest law of Ecuador.
"While rights of nature were enshrined in the constitution, it was not clear prior to this decision whether individual animals could benefit from the rights of nature and be considered rights holders as a part of nature."The Court has stated that animals are subject to rights protected by rights of nature.”
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