Monkey In The Middle

Animal Rights Activists Wage Court Fight To Get Chimpanzee Declared A "Person"

(AP)  In some ways, Hiasl is like any other Viennese: He indulges a weakness for pastry, likes to paint and enjoys chilling out watching TV. But he doesn't care for coffee, and he isn't actually a person — at least not yet.

In a case that could set a global legal precedent for granting basic rights to apes, animal rights advocates are seeking to get the 26-year-old male chimpanzee legally declared a "person."

Hiasl's supporters argue he needs that status to become a legal entity that can receive donations and get a guardian to look out for his interests.

"Our main argument is that Hiasl is a person and has basic legal rights," said Eberhart Theuer, a lawyer leading the challenge on behalf of the Association Against Animal Factories, a Vienna animal rights group.

"We mean the right to life, the right to not be tortured, the right to freedom under certain conditions," Theuer said. "We're not talking about the right to vote here."

The campaign began after the animal sanctuary where Hiasl (pronounced HEE-zul) and another chimp, Rosi, have lived for 25 years went bankrupt.

Activists want to ensure the apes don't wind up homeless if the shelter closes. Both have already suffered: They were captured as babies in Sierra Leone in 1982 and smuggled in a crate to Austria for use in pharmaceutical experiments. Customs officers intercepted the shipment and turned the chimps over to the shelter.

Their food and veterinary bills run about $6,800 a month. Donors have offered to help, but there's a catch: Under Austrian law, only a person can receive personal donations.

Organizers could set up a foundation to collect cash for Hiasl, whose life expectancy in captivity is about 60 years. But without basic rights, they contend, he could be sold to someone outside Austria, where the chimp is protected by strict animal cruelty laws.

"If we can get Hiasl declared a person, he would have the right to own property. Then, if people wanted to donate something to him, he'd have the right to receive it," said Theuer, who has vowed to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

Austria isn't the only country where primate rights are being debated. Spain's parliament is considering a bill that would endorse the Great Ape Project, a Seattle-based international initiative to extend "fundamental moral and legal protections" to apes.

If Hiasl gets a guardian, "it will be the first time the species barrier will have been crossed for legal 'personhood,"' said Jan Creamer, chief executive of Animal Defenders International, which is working to end the use of primates in research.

Paula Stibbe, a Briton who teaches English in Vienna, petitioned a district court to be Hiasl's legal trustee. On April 24, Judge Barbara Bart rejected her request, ruling Hiasl didn't meet two key tests: He is neither mentally impaired nor in an emergency.

Although Bart expressed concern that awarding Hiasl a guardian could create the impression that animals enjoy the same legal status as humans, she didn't rule that he could never be considered a person.

Martin Balluch, who heads the Association Against Animal Factories, has asked a federal court for a ruling on the guardianship issue.

"Chimps share 99.4 percent of their DNA with humans," he said. "OK, they're not homo sapiens. But they're obviously also not things — the only other option the law provides."

Not all Austrian animal rights activists back the legal challenge. Michael Antolini, president of the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said he thinks it's absurd.

"I'm not about to make myself look like a fool" by getting involved, said Antolini, who worries that chimpanzees could gain broader rights, such as copyright protections on their photographs.

But Stibbe, who brings Hiasl sweets and yogurt and watches him draw and clown around by dressing up in knee-high rubber boots, insists he deserves more legal rights "than bricks or apples or potatoes."

"He can be very playful but also thoughtful," she said. "Being with him is like playing with someone who can't talk."

A date for the appeal hasn't been set, but Hiasl's legal team has lined up expert witnesses, including Jane Goodall, the world's foremost observer of chimpanzee behavior.

"When you see Hiasl, he really comes across as a person," Theuer said.

"He has a real personality. It strikes you immediately: This is an individual. You just have to look him in the eye to see that."

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by crater7 at 06:23 AM : May 05, 2007



Hi fives on the bush thing, crater7

[michellem99-2009]

I don't know what this world is coming to when they want to make apes and his kind human rights as a person which he/she is not. I don't see the reasoning or why. Right. I for one feel they should be treated humanly. A person NO.

[toolmangler-2009]

yes I have heard of the world government concept. it is also almost certainly inevitable
Posted by RandalDS at 12:50 AM : May 06, 2007

"Many books and articles have been written on this subject The most telling of them are The Orwellian prophesies, the Prophecies of Nostradamus, The books of Revelation, Isaiah, Daniel and others have all foretold of what globalization (World Government) will look like in the not too distant future. Secular infighting and war on opposing viewpoints or politics will result with one ideological/political faction or another controlling the world and imposing its particular form of attempted mind/thought control on the rest of us. The Internet as it is, if unhampered will result in the total end of hypocracy in government. But before that happens Orwell will be proved right and the world will go through Big Brotherism in several forms. Right now whomever controls the Internet can control the world. But it will not last because freedom of knowledge will finally hold sway and mankind will benefit. What amazes me is that the world is ignoring the fact that 95% of the conflicts going on right now are fueled by poverty fired by religious zealots and inflicted anywhere free thought has a foothold. I was born prior to WWII and know that there is a God. I am now seeing the prophecies unfold and there is not a thing anyone can do to stop them. The only thing we can do is mitigate the effects."
(from an earlier post)

[randalds]

Better this Chimp have full humane rights than a Wh**ore like Nancy Pelosi.

Posted by Superpat1898 at 04:56 AM : May 06, 2007

Speaking of non-human lifeforms.......here's superidiot1898.

[randalds]

This is off topic, but yes I have heard of the world government concept. While it can be scary it is also almost certainly inevitable (though not in our lifetime I suspect), so people who do love freedom and respect the rights of others along the lines of our Bill of Rights need to stop trying to fight the idea and instead get out in front of it. If the world government that we are headed towards becomes real then it'll be a world ruled by major corporations and a small group of the very rich elite families, with every one else as a much lower working class. If you like you can email me at [e-mail] sometime.

[gaye5]

RandalD,I so agree, what did Hitler do just before he went to war.. he de-gunned the people..in other words he took the guns off them so as they couldn't protect themselves, or fight the enemy, 'Hitler' and his merry men.. Lets hope that this is not an example of what our governments are following today for the same reasons.. Are we heading for a time when if we dont obey we are doomed, total control.. they say a civilisation lasts 200 years and we are well on the other side of the first 100 years, what sort of a civilization will we have after this time is up..
Randal, I dont believe that we can trust any government nowadays, it is just that individually we vote for what we hope is the best of the bad bunch..
I have read much on global government, have you read anything on it?? scary if true.. but isn't that what they have tried to get since time began.. and of late, communism, Hitler, socialism (which is only the identical twin to communism), Muslims etc,, all want total world control..

[randalds]

Posted by Gaye5 at 05:28 PM : May 05, 2007

Thanks, but even though I'm against gun gun partly because I believe in having one on hand to use against possible criminals (I live in Los Angeles and crazy things do happen here), the main reason I'm against gun control is that I don't trust my government. I think the reason that the right to bear arms is in the Constitution is to remind all Americans to always be ready to take up arms against our government if it ever gets out of the control of the people, like Cheney is trying to do now. In these uncertain times more then any in our history, real Americans have to be ready to take control of our own government back, by force if necessary.

[toolmangler-2009]

"Our main argument is that Hiasl is a person and has basic legal rights,"

When I can sit down opposite Hiasl and discuss the merits of this action with him, then and only then would I consider giving this argument credence.

[fizzal-2009]

When are they gona pay back the tax,s they took for Easter and Christmass Holiday pay Cumulative interest and customary fine now that they think were equal too a monkey.

[gaye5]

RandalDS, I know that this is off the subject, but you are very wise to be against gun control..
Here in OZ they try to tell us that gun control is working, but people dont stop to think for themselves. Guns are outlawed because of crims using them on the innocent, but a crim doesnt care about the law and thus will not give his rifle in, and now the field is open wide for him to go into any house and know that the dear people have stupidly given up their guns with which they could previously protect themselves with, so now he doesnt have to be scared of someone shooting him anymore, a free for all for the crim..
Oh yes there is a penalty for owning a gun, but who is going to know until you have killed a few people anyway... and besides if you get caught and you dont get a judge who you can bribe you only get a couple of years in jail anyway..