- A divorce court in Argentina gave the couple’s dogs equal rights on this one occasion and allowed the animals to select who they want to live with.
- The case sets a legal precedent, and it is probably a world first.
- The case temporarily grants rights to animals that are equal to those of humans, the Holy Grail of animal rights.
- PETA will be thrilled at the news.
Amorina Bascoy was married to Emmanual Medina for 15 years. They were happy to go their separate ways and it seems that the divorce was relatively amicable. They had two dogs. The difficulty was in deciding who should keep the dogs.
They had to go to court to decide that and the judge did something extraordinary in setting a legal precedent. He or she decided (matrimonial court judges are often women) that this was a “multi-species family” and as such the dogs had a right to decide who they wanted to live with.
Popeye, six-years-old, decided that he wanted to live with Amorina while Kiara preferred Emmanuel. It appears that the female dog preferred the man in the male dog preferred the woman. I wonder if that is typical?
Having decided which dog lives with who, they then, by mutual agreement, decided on visiting rights to allow each other to visit the dog that they no longer lived with.
Medina said in an interview with Clarin newspaper: “We didn’t have children, so our dogs are our babies. It’s a pure and noble love”.
They decided to meet each other at the seaside in Buenos Aires and so far the arrangement is working well.
The ex-wife said that they didn’t have a problem seeing each other. She said: “We forget about each other because just spending time with them makes us smile”.
The sad aspect of the divorce is that the dogs do miss each other which is a major reason why they decided to have weekly reunions. It is not only for the humans but mainly, in fact, for the dogs.
I’ve just read that the judge is indeed a woman, judge Diana Sica. She said: “Animals, especially domestic animals, are sensitive beings who feel, who miss, who rejoice, who suffer and who acquire habit.”
I love this judge! This is a judge who is highly enlightened, and she deserves all the credit and praise that she can get.
It makes me wonder why British judges can’t do the same thing in divorce.
In a joint statement, Bascoy and Medina said: “If a couple is no longer together, it’s between them. It has nothing to do with the animals.”
Finally, Bascoy said that she was perfectly happy for Medina to find another human love in his life “unless the new girlfriend doesn’t like dogs!”
Below are some more articles on animal rights.
