The decision to provide legal rights to wild animals was taken by the country’s highest court when it was hearing the case of Estrellita, a woolly monkey. Estrellita was taken away from the wilds when she was one month old. Later on, she was kept as a pet for 18 years by Ana Beatriz Burbano Proaño. Proaño is a librarian. Estrellita has seized to the zoo from the owner Proaño saying that Keeping wild animals as pets is illegal in the country. Later on, after a month of being separated from the owner, Estrellita died. Followed the monkey’s death Proaño filed a habeas corpus petition, asking the court to rule that the monkey’s rights were violated.
The court did lay emphasis on the fact that the monkey’s rights were indeed violated not only by the government but also by Ana Beatriz Burbano Proaño as she took the monkey from her natural habitat at such an early age.“wild species and their individuals have the right not to be hunted, fished, captured, collected, extracted, kept, retained, trafficked, traded or exchanged,”- the court noted.
Environmental lawyer Hugo Echeverría stated in a press release
“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,”.
Thus taking a step further in order to preserve wild animals’ rights, Ecuador became the first country to embrace such a transforming notion.
