The New York Supreme Court will decide in the coming weeks whether a chimpanzee kept in captivity should have the same rights as a "legal person."
The court will consider a suit filed by a group of activists who are representing four chimpanzees, CNN reported on Tuesday. The group is asking that the state award them the "right to bodily liberty."
"When we go to court on behalf of the first chimpanzee plaintiffs, we'll be asking judges to recognize, for the first time, that these cognitively complex, autonomous beings have the basic legal right to not be imprisoned," founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project Steven M. Wise told CNN.
The four chimps, 26-year-old Tommy, 26-year-old Kiko, and Hercules and Leo, are currently being held in various locations across New York State: Tommy lives in a cage on a trailer lot in Gloversville, Kiko is also caged on a property in Niagra Falls, while Hercules and Leo are being held at Stony Brook University for a research experiment.
"Not long ago, people generally agreed that human slaves could not be legal persons, but were simply the property of their owners," Wise stated. "We will assert, based on clear scientific evidence, that it's time to take the next step and recognize that these nonhuman animals cannot continue to be exploited as the property of their human 'owners.'"
Stony Brook University spokesperson Lauren Sheprow said the school "has not seen any legal papers related to this matter and therefore is unable to comment."
A "legal person" isn't necessarily defined as a human being, Joyce Tischler, co-founder of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, wrote to CNN.
The group is working to move the four chimps to a sanctuary "where they can live out their days with others of their kind in an environment as close to the wild as...possible."
