After Castaño and his former spouse Lina María Ochoa break up in 2021, Castaño’s uncommon visits with Simona left him satisfied that the pup was “emotionally affected” each time their encounters got here to an finish, court docket data state. However Castaño’s ex-wife was not prepared to permit preset, assured visits.
What might Castaño do to see Simona extra typically? He opted to take the matter to court docket, the place judges dominated in October that the canine needs to be legally thought of “his daughter” and handled as such in divorce proceedings — the primary such ruling in Colombia.
Final 12 months, Castaño sued his former spouse, demanding scheduled visits with the pooch. Castaño alleged that Simona was a part of the “household’s nucleus,” and that each he and the canine had been adversely affected following the divorce as a result of his former spouse didn’t grant him frequent visits, the lawsuit states.
What began as a lawsuit demanding an everyday schedule of visits with Simona changed into an even bigger authorized query for the Colombian court docket: Was the canine like some other member of a household, like a toddler, whose mother and father shared custody after separating?
The Bogotá Superior Court docket dominated that Simona the canine had certainly been an official member of the “multispecies” household earlier than the divorce tore it asunder.
That meant Castaño was entitled to scheduled visits with Simona, a residing creature with emotions who additionally suffered after the wedding ended, the court docket dominated.
Earlier than 2016, to the eyes of the court docket, animals had been thought of “cosas muebles,” a authorized time period that means objects that people might transport wherever they wished. However a ruling that 12 months determined that animals will not be objects. They’re residing beings with emotions.
The court docket additionally dominated in 2016 that people should defend animals from ache and be chargeable for their well-being by treating them when sick and avoiding placing them in circumstances that would trigger them worry or stress. This final half, the judges evaluating Castaño’s lawsuit mentioned, was a think about contemplating how Castaño’s separation from Simona impacted the animal’s well-being.
It’s the primary time a Colombian court docket has dominated that an animal could be thought of a member of the household if it’s handled as such by its house owners. However Colombia just isn’t the one nation on the chopping fringe of this authorized matter, in line with ReVista: Harvard Evaluation of Latin America.
“Latin American authorized programs are on the forefront of contemplating animals as relations,” in line with the net journal. “In a world latest attitudinal change towards animals in western societies, right now, many individuals acknowledge themselves as a part of a multispecies household.”
In 2018, for example, a Peruvian court docket dominated that Petunia, a 3-year-old pig, was a member of 1 household within the nation’s central highlands area of Junín after the municipal authorities mentioned the pig was a public well being threat and ordered her household to switch her to a farm, in line with ReVista.
As for Simona, a household decide should now rule the precise visiting schedule for Castaño and the pup, “his daughter,” the lawsuit states.
