By Claire Mansell - 22 Dec 2014
A Court in Argentina has granted Habeas Corpus to an Orang-utan
named Sandra. Habeas Corpus (which means "you have the
body") is an ancient remedy which requires a detained person
to be brought before the court at a specific date and time. It is
usually used as a means of liberating someone from unlawful
detention.
In this case, Sandra's lawyers successfully argued that she was
a "non-human person" with rights and that she had been unlawfully
deprived of her freedom (she was in a zoo). The Court ordered that
Sandra be released from the zoo to an animal sanctuary.
It's unclear whether the New Zealand Courts will adopt this
approach.