The Supreme Court of New York this week will hear arguments in a case about monkeys—specifically whether two chimpanzees, Kiko and Tommy, should be afforded rights associated with “personhood.”
The Nonhuman Rights Project, which has been operating for 25 years, fights for legal personhood status for great apes, elephants and certain types of cetaceans, on the theory that, while these animals aren’t technically people, they have enough mental capacity that they cannot be considered “things,” or “property.”
It’s not exactly the same as being human—but it does mean that they can’t be “owned” or caged.
In Thursday’s case, the Project is presenting a petition for habeas corpus to the Court, contending that Kiko and Tommy, who are kept by private individuals, should be afforded Sixth Amendment rights—specifically, that the chimps have been locked up without the right to a fair trial.
Kiko is in a primate sanctuary in Upstate New York. Tommy lives in a cage in Gloversville, also in northern New York, but his owner wants to transfer him to a farm—something the Nonhuman Rights Project objects to because it’s not a “natural habitat,” even if it is better than his current home.
But it actually isn’t the chimps’ treatment that the Nonhuman Rights Project sees as its central concern—it’s the fact that the chimps themselves can’t decide how to live on their own.
“We specifically say we are not alleging [the chimps’ owners] have violated any local, state or federal law,” the Project’s lead lawyer, Steve Wise, told NBC News. “What we’re saying is those laws are grossly insufficient and [the chimpanzees] should have right to bodily liberty. We’re not trying to protect their welfare, we’re trying to protect rights.”
Thursday’s case is far from the Project’s first try to liberate chimpanzees. And they’re being guided by a decision made in Brazil last year, giving rights to an orangutan named Cecila, who was then removed from her owners and sent to a large sanctuary.
If Kiko and Tommy get their rights, they’ll go to live on a huge property in Florida.