From the United States they seek to influence the future of the Magdalena hippos
For the first time, a United States court has recognized animals as legal entities , specifically, the descendants of the hippos that Pablo Escobar brought to the country and that today wreak havoc in Magdalena Medio.
The ruling came after the non-profit Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) submitted a request to allow two experts in non-surgical wildlife sterilization to provide testimony in support of a Colombian lawsuit to stop a cull.
In federal court in Ohio, Magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz last week granted the plaintiffs' request, in this case the "community of hippos living on the Magdalena River."
The ruling was based on a US law that allows a "person concerned" in foreign litigation to request US depositions to help their case.
"By granting the request the court recognized the hippos as legal persons with respect to that statute ," ALDF explained in a statement.
Christopher Berry, managing attorney for ALDF, told AFP on Thursday that the district court order "will help the hippos in their lawsuit not to die, that is the immediate impact of it."
" More generally, it is the first concrete example of a US court authorizing animals to exercise a legal right on behalf of the animal itself ," he added.
The lawsuit was filed last July on behalf of the hippos by lawyer Luis Domingo Gómez Maldonado in Colombia, a country that already recognizes the legal personality of animals.
Its objective is to prevent the government from practicing euthanasia of the animals, which now number around 100 , and according to the opinion of various experts they are causing an ecological disaster that could be irreparable for the biodiversity of Magdalena, which is why there are still voices missing authorized in Colombia to rule on how much a legal measure from the United States can affect an ecological and social conflict in Magdalena Medio caused by this invasive species.
