After Castaño and his former spouse Lina María Ochoa cut 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, courtroom information state. However Castaño’s ex-wife was not prepared to permit preset, assured visits.
What may Castaño do to see Simona extra usually? He opted to take the matter to courtroom, the place judges dominated in October that the canine must be legally thought-about “his daughter” and handled as such in divorce proceedings — the primary such ruling in Colombia.
Final yr, 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 a daily schedule of visits with Simona became a much bigger authorized query for the Colombian courtroom: Was the canine like every other member of a household, like a toddler, whose mother and father shared custody after separating?
The Bogotá Superior Courtroom 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 dwelling creature with emotions who additionally suffered after the wedding ended, the courtroom dominated.
Earlier than 2016, to the eyes of the courtroom, animals had been thought-about “cosas muebles,” a authorized time period which means objects that people may transport wherever they wished. However a ruling that yr determined that animals aren’t objects. They’re dwelling beings with emotions.
The courtroom additionally dominated in 2016 that people should shield animals from ache and be answerable for their well-being by treating them when sick and avoiding placing them in circumstances that might trigger them worry or stress. This final half, the judges evaluating Castaño’s lawsuit stated, was a consider contemplating how Castaño’s separation from Simona impacted the animal’s well-being.
It’s the primary time a Colombian courtroom has dominated that an animal will be thought-about a member of the household if it’s handled as such by its homeowners. However Colombia is just not the one nation on the reducing fringe of this authorized matter, in line with ReVista: Harvard Assessment of Latin America.
“Latin American authorized methods are on the forefront of contemplating animals as members of the family,” in line with the net journal. “In a world current attitudinal change towards animals in western societies, immediately, many individuals acknowledge themselves as a part of a multispecies household.”
In 2018, as an illustration, a Peruvian courtroom 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 stated the pig was a public well being danger 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.