Do Chimps Have Legal ‘Person’ Rights? New York Court To Decide Case Of Chimpanzee ‘Illegally Imprisoned’ By His Owner

A New York appeals court will hear the case of a chimp named Tommy this week to consider whether chimps are entitled to “legal personhood.”

Tommy’s case, which experts say is the first of its kind, was brought by lawyer Steven Wise and is the culmination of 30 years of seeking rights for intelligent animals that are otherwise reserved for humans.

According to GMA News, the landmark case will be heard on Wednesday by a mid-level state appeals court in Albany. Tommy, a 26-year-old chimp, lives alone in what Wise describes as a “dark, dank shed” in upstate New York.

The case is supported by activists for the Nonhuman Rights Project, whose leaders include renowned primate expert, Jane Goodall.

The Daily Mail reports the organization hopes that winning the case will grant the chimp a ‘right over his own body’ and allow them to move Tommy to a sanctuary in Florida.

“It hasn’t been tried before so our case is unique,” Nonhuman Rights Project executive director, Natalie Prosin said.

“It’s the first time any organization has tried to get actual legal rights for any non-humans – under U.S. law animals count as things, not people. There are animal protection laws, but that’s not the same as giving rights to animals. At the moment, they’re just the same as a table or a chair.”

However, having legal personhood is not the same as human rights, Prosin pointed out, “The legal term “legal person” is not synonymous with human beings. Corporations can be legal persons in the U.S.”

“What we’re trying to do is have the court grant legal person rights so our chimpanzee plaintiff can enjoy one simple human right. The last time we saw him he was in a cage in a shed on a trailer park. He basically lives in solitary confinement.”

Tommy’s “personhood” was denied previously, along with that of three other chimps, Kiko, Hercules, and Leo.

Patrick Lavery, Tommy’s owner, has not commented on the current case, but said when the lawsuit was filed last year that the former circus chimp was well-cared for, that the “shed” was a $150,000 state of the art facility, and that the chimp had been on a waiting list for a primate sanctuary for three years.

If the Nonhuman Rights Project wins the case on Wednesday, they plan to go beyond chimps – they want to gain “person rights” for other animals also.

“If we lose,” Prosin said, “We won’t stop. We will appeal to New York’s highest court.”

Tommy the chimp’s case brings to mind another legal case reported by the Inquisitr, in which the U.S. Copyright Office decided that the rights to a selfie taken by a macaque monkey belonged to the monkey, not the photographer who owned the camera.

What do you think? Do animals have the same rights as humans, or will giving this chimp “person rights’ open the doors to a flood of confusing animal rights cases?

[Image via Neuroethics Canada]