Sure, there can be some immediate or material benefits/advantages to legal вЂњsuccessвЂќ in cases that result in a cessation of imprisonment/violence (a ruling that releases someone from prison, or grants a community management rights of its own water, or prevents a deportation, or provides material restitution), and those victories may be worth it even if it takes years to вЂњlegally recognizeвЂќ the value of the life of one human, animal, victim, etc. The Connecticut Superior Court also later heard arguments in favor of recognizing personhood of a couple of elephants from a traveling zoo operation.ДЄnyway, I donвЂ™t really care too much about what nation-states, especially imperialist/settler-colonial states (and especially the US), have to say about the вЂњlegalвЂќ вЂњrightsвЂќ of animals, as they can only barely and only ever occasionally conceal the fact that they donвЂ™t even give a shit about the вЂњlegalвЂќ вЂњrightsвЂќ of humans. In 2013, the New York State Supreme Court heard arguments in favor of recognizing the personhood of four chimpanzees. Also, in 2019, in what was called the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, the city of Toledo (Ohio) voted to recognize Lake ErieвЂ™s вЂњright to a healthy environmentвЂќ this law was later declared unconstitutional by a federal court. The case is currently, as of 2021, ongoing. In 2005, Happy was celebrated as the first elephant to have unequivocally passed вЂњthe mirror testвЂќ indicating self-awareness/sentience.

As of 2021, there is an ongoing case in New York courts seeking to achieve formal recognition of the legal personhood of Happy, an Asian elephant who currently lives at the Bronx Zoo. In 2015, a New York State Supreme Court judge ordered a writ of habeas corpus for two chimpanzees, but, only one day later, the ruling was amended to remove the words вЂњhabeas corpusвЂќ. In 2016, an Argentine court also recognized a chimpanzee named Cecilia as a legal person.ДЄnd itвЂ™s worth noting that, in the US case, the animals being recognized as persons donвЂ™t even live in the US (they live in Colombia). However, Sandra originally lived at a zoo in Buenos Aires, and it was an Argentine court - not a US court - that recognized her personhood in 2014. I believe you might be thinking about Sandra, an orangutan who currently (as of 2021) now lives at a wildlife sanctuary in Florida. And, by the way, the intent of the post was to focus less on mere US-based legal technicalities and more on вЂњthe myth of The Wilderness/NatureвЂќ, landscapes in North and Latin America, and the ecological change brought about by industrial resource extraction and settler-colonial landscape alteration.) Previous cases of legal recognition of other-than-human personhood happened in other nations. Regarding how, in October 2021, a US federal court for the first time recognized the personhood of other-than-human animals - the non-native, escaped, invasive вЂњcoca!ne hipposвЂќ of Pablo EscobarвЂ™s former home in the Magdalena watershed in Colombia - what I said was that this was the first time that a US court legally recognized the personhood of an other-than-human animal. Thank you for the interest in such a good topic, and for saying something, but you might be thinking of something else. $currencies->display_price($new_price, tep_get_tax_rate($product_info)). $currencies->display_price($product_info, tep_get_tax_rate($product_info)). tep_image_button('button_continue.gif', IMAGE_BUTTON_CONTINUE).

Echo of ayllu