The case of the orangutan in Argentina has gone around the world, becoming a milestone in animal rights, after a local court has declared that orangutan Sandra, who lives in the Buenos Aires zoo, should be freed due to the fact that she's a "non-human person" that has been deprived of its freedom in an unlawful way.

As pro-animal groups around the world embark on a crusade against zoos and the unlawful detention of wild animals in these small locations instead of their natural habitat, the latest news regarding the orangutan in Argentina could turn things over and create a new precedent in animal rights legislation in the future.

According to Reuters, the whole thing started when, last November, animal rights campaigners filed a petition citing habeas corpus for the ape. "Habeas corpus" is a legal term that has been only applied to humans thus far and means that there is no legal motive to imprison a person - and, now, also the orangutan in Argentina.

Sandra the orangutan is 29 years old, and the petition said that she was being treated unfairly and violating her rights as a sentient being, something with which the court agreed, according to The Daily Mail.

For the defense of their argument regarding the orangutan in Argentina, the animal campaigners stated that, due to the fact that the ape is actually quite intelligent both intellectually and emotionally and has a complex way of thinking, she should not be treated as an "object."

This is the second stance on which the campaigners have taken their claims, as a judge had previously rejected the petition; later, they appealed at the country's criminal appeals court, which is where they got these last results.

While the orangutan in Argentina is not the first case in this matter, the decision is still unusual; according to Time, there was a similar one in a New York court a few days ago, but the judges stated that the ape (a chimpanzee in that case) lacked legal personhood.