Ecuador Becomes the First Country to Grant Legal Rights to Wild Animals

Ecuador Becomes the First Country to Grant Legal Rights to Wild Animals

In a groundbreaking move, Ecuador has made history as the first country in the world to formally recognize legal rights for wild animals. This landmark decision, delivered by the nation’s Constitutional Court in January 2022, marks a significant evolution in global animal rights and environmental law.

The Story Behind the Ruling

The catalyst for this unprecedented ruling was the case of Estrellita, a woolly monkey who was taken from her natural habitat as a baby and raised for 18 years by Ana Beatriz Burbano Proaño, a librarian in Ecuador. Estrellita lived as a member of the family—wearing clothes, eating with cutlery, and sleeping in a bed. However, in 2019, authorities confiscated Estrellita, as Ecuadorian law prohibits keeping wild animals as pets. She was transferred to a zoo, where she died shortly after.

Following Estrellita’s death, her owner filed a habeas corpus petition, arguing that the monkey’s rights had been violated. The case eventually reached the Constitutional Court, which used it as an opportunity to clarify the scope of Ecuador’s “rights of nature” constitutional provision - first enshrined in 2008—specifically as it applies to individual wild animals.

Key Findings of the Court

The court’s 7-2 decision was historic in several ways:

• Wild animals are “subjects of law”: The ruling explicitly states that wild animals possess legal rights under the constitution, elevating their status to constitutional rights-holders.

  
  

• Rights beyond the ecosystem: The court emphasized that animals should not be protected solely for their role in ecosystems or for human benefit, but for their own intrinsic value and individuality.

  
  

• Specific protections: Wild species have the right not to be hunted, fished, captured, collected, extracted, kept, retained, trafficked, traded, commercialized, or exchanged.

• Enforcement and future legislation: The court ordered Ecuador’s Ministry of the Environment to develop new rules and methods to ensure that animal rights are respected and upheld.

  
  

A New Standard for Animal Rights

This ruling extends Ecuador’s pioneering “rights of nature” approach—originally focused on rivers, forests, and ecosystems—to include individual wild animals. It means that all wild animals, not just endangered species, are protected under the constitution. As Harvard law professor Kristen Stilt notes, this decision makes the rights of nature a much more powerful tool, as it can now be used to benefit individual animals, not just species or habitats.

Environmental lawyer Hugo Echeverría described the verdict as raising animal rights to the highest law of the land, stating: “The Court has stated that animals are subject of rights protected by rights of nature”.

Limitations and Future Implications

While the decision is a major step forward, it is not absolute. The court acknowledged that certain human activities, such as hunting and fishing, may still be permitted if balanced against human rights to benefit from the environment. However, the ruling opens the door for future legal challenges and more robust protections for animals, as the concept of “good living” or buen vivir— which includes the well-being of other species—is woven into Ecuador’s social and legal philosophy.

Global Impact

Ecuador’s ruling sets a powerful precedent for other countries. Several nations, including Colombia, Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, and Panama, have taken steps to recognize the rights of nature, but Ecuador is the first to constitutionally protect the rights of individual wild animals. This decision is likely to inspire further legal reforms and debates around the world about the status and protection of nonhuman animals.

Ecuador’s historic decision is more than a legal milestone; it is a profound statement about the intrinsic value of wildlife and the evolving relationship between humans and the natural world. By recognizing wild animals as legal subjects, Ecuador has set a new global standard for animal rights and environmental stewardship.