The historic and scandal-prone Buenos Aires zoo is set to close and all animals transitioned to nature preserves because, as the city’s Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta put simply on Friday, “Captivity is degrading.”
The 140-year-old zoo in Buenos Aires’ Palermo neighborhood will be turned into an “ecopark” when it reopens later this year after its 2,500 animals are removed, although some of the older and infirm animals will remain on site, the Guardian reports. That includes the orangutan Sandra, who made headlines in 2014 when an unsuccessful bid to have her freed from captivity nonetheless resulted in her being termed a “non-human person” deserving of rights by a Buenos Aires court.
As an ecopark, the site will also provide “refuge and rehabilitation” for animals rescued from trafficking operations.
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