AFP
NEW YORK
A New York State appeals court has heard arguments on whether chimpanzees held in captivity should be recognized as “legal persons” entitled to live in freedom. Animal charity The Nonhuman Rights Project is petitioning courts to move four chimpanzees held in confinement in New York state to a sanctuary to live out the remainder of their days. Law, science and history prove that chimps have characteristics including self-consciousness and empathy that “establish personhood” and the corresponding right to liberty, the group argues. “It is important to note that we are not trying to give human rights to chimpanzees,” the charity argues on its website. “We are advocating for chimpanzee rights for chimpanzees, beginning with the fundamental legal right to bodily liberty.”