The historic decision came as the country’s highest court heard the case of a woolly monkey named Estrellita, who was taken from the wild when she was only one-month-old and was raised as a pet but died within a month after it was shifted to a zoo
FP Explainers
April 05, 2022 16:48:10 IST
The landmark ruling by the Ecuador court came when it was hearing a case related to Estrellita, a woolly monkey. Image for representational purposes/AFP
At a time when the world is battling climate change and exploitation of animals, Ecuador, in South America, has made history by becoming the first country to recognise the legal rights of individual wild animals.
The 7-2 ruling by the top court in the country, handed down last month, is believed to be the first time a court has applied the rights of nature — laws that recognise the legal rights of ecosystems to exist and regenerate — to an animal, a woolly monkey named Estrellita.