Personhood for Primates
Henry is an outgoing 26-year-old who enjoys painting, watching wildlife documentaries and eating bananas. He’s emotional, empathic and self-aware and he shares 98.4 per cent of your DNA. Henry is also a chimpanzee, and so has no more rights in law than a car or a television. I am one body in a growing number of people want to change all that. Campaigners across the world are attempting to persuade governments to grant great apes elementary “human rights”. We argue that great apes are enough like us to deserve special treatment over other animals. For Henry it’s more than a philosophical debate. The sanctuary near Vienna in Austria where he has lived all his life is facing bankruptcy, and unless he is granted “personhood” and allotted a human legal guardian he will be sold to the highest bidder. Which can be a zoo, circus or even a scientific testing facility.
This month, a judge rejected Henry’s case. Unless the Austria’s appeal court overturns the decision he and the other chimps at the sanctuary face an uncertain future.
Now if Henry lived in Mallorca or any other of Spain’s Balearic Islands on the other hand the story would be much different. In February 2007, Spain’s parliament made history by becoming the first to recognize the individual rights of chimps, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans, giving them similar status to a child or dependent adult. Any apes living in the Balearic Islands are no longer property to be owned but instead are protected by guardians, who must ensure that their rights to freedom from torture, mistreatment and unnecessary death are being respected. The Spanish parliament was the first to instate this policy, after which many have followed.
The United States I am embarrassed to say, is not one of these few countries; and continues to be fairly ignorant to the change. Change can be intimidating to say the least, but this change is one that needs to happen. New Zealand considered the possibility of extending human
This month, a judge rejected Henry’s case. Unless the Austria’s appeal court overturns the decision he and the other chimps at the sanctuary face an uncertain future.
Now if Henry lived in Mallorca or any other of Spain’s Balearic Islands on the other hand the story would be much different. In February 2007, Spain’s parliament made history by becoming the first to recognize the individual rights of chimps, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans, giving them similar status to a child or dependent adult. Any apes living in the Balearic Islands are no longer property to be owned but instead are protected by guardians, who must ensure that their rights to freedom from torture, mistreatment and unnecessary death are being respected. The Spanish parliament was the first to instate this policy, after which many have followed.
The United States I am embarrassed to say, is not one of these few countries; and continues to be fairly ignorant to the change. Change can be intimidating to say the least, but this change is one that needs to happen. New Zealand considered the possibility of extending human
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