The death of elephant guida and the future of animal rights
| Autor | Kenneth Williams |
| Cargo | Law professor at South Texas College of Law |
| Páginas | 124-126 |
Revista Brasileira de Direito Animal, e-issn: 2317-4552, Salvador, volume 14, numero 02, p. 124-126, Mai-Ago 2019
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THE DEATH OF ELEPHANT GUIDA AND THE FUTURE OF ANIMAL RIGHTS
By Kenneth Williams,
Law professor at South Texas College of Law
“According to the constitutional provision, regardless of any other rule, animals are
subjects of rights and, as such, prevails as a magnum principle, the repudiation of any act
that demeans or tarnish the dignity of their lives. Therefore, any offense should be banned
and any cruelty repealed “. With these words, on August 20, 2010, Brazilian Judge Ana
Conceição Ferreira granted an injunction in favor of Guida and Maia, two female elephants
who lived in precarious conditions in Circo Portugal, an itinerant circus that used these an-
imals in their shows through Brazil.
The action was proposed in 2010 by Professor Heron Gordilho, who, in 2005profes-
sors Luciano Santana, Tagore Silva and some animal protection societies, led a Habeas
Corpus in behalf of a female chimpanzee well known by the name of Suiça, who lived in a
zoo in the State of Bahia.
It turns out that, unlike Suiça, who died before knowing freedom, elephants Guida
and Maia were released and sent to a farm in the State of Minas Gerais and later to an el-
ephant sanctuary in the State of Mato Grosso. Since June 24, 2019, however, animal rights
activists are in mourning, due to the sudden death of Guida, at 47 years of age.
In order for us to understand the importance of these judicial precedents in favor of animals,
we must make a brief historical retrospective of the cases.
The case Suiça vs. Bahia was the rst judicial precedent in this direction. The trial
occurred in 2005 when Professor Heron Gordilho, along with other animal rights advocates,
lled a Habeas Corpus petition to free Suiça who was imprisoned in a public zoo in the State
of Bahia. Although the chimpanzee died before liberation, she became known worldwide
for being the rst animal - usually considered the object of human property rights - to be ad-
mitted to court as a legal subject with standing before a court, provoking a true Copernican
revolution in the legal world.
In his decision, Judge Edmundo Cruz made clear that the writ fullled all the condi-
tions of the action, that is, that the judicial protection sought was susceptible of appreciation,
and that Suiça had standing, since it was proved that she had an interest in be protected ju-
dicially and that the remedy of Habeas Corpus was a necessary and appropriate instrument
to produce a result satisfactory to its interest.
Ten years after Brazil, it was Argentina’s turn to make a qualitative leap towards
recognition of animal rights. On October 21, 2015, the female orangutan Sandra was also
recognized as a “subject of law” and released through an order of Habeas Corpus granted
by Judge Elena Liberatori, from the city of Buenos Aires.
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