From SeaWorld’s orcas to circuses’ elephants, the captivity of large, intelligent animals for human amusement has come under fire.
Legally, animals are property. If you hit a dog with your car, the dog’s "value" in court is its market price—usually zero for a mixed-breed stray. This property status is the single greatest barrier to justice. This property status is the single greatest barrier
However, that is changing. In a landmark 2016 case in Argentina, an orangutan named Sandra was declared a "non-human person" with the right to freedom from unjustified imprisonment. She was moved from a zoo to a sanctuary. She was moved from a zoo to a sanctuary
Similarly, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) in the United States has been fighting for years for habeas corpus (the right to challenge unlawful detention) for elephants and chimpanzees. In 2022, a court recognized two elephants, Happy and Jumbo, as legal persons for the purposes of their release hearing. While these are baby steps
While these are baby steps, they represent a seismic shift away from welfare (how much space does the elephant have?) toward rights (does the elephant have the right to be free at all?).
Widely used by veterinarians, zoos, and farm inspectors, these are the global gold standard for assessing welfare: