Fresh from the nut farm known as
the European continent we have...
Activists Want Chimp Declared a 'Person'
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."
This case is apparently not just one of Animal Rightists pushing the envelope. They want the change in the ape's status so that they can better accept donations for his upkeep which is quite expensive. But this is a world where even the simplest legal decisions for the best of motives can have alarming repercussions.
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.
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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.
I suppose what gets to me most is that in a world where such extreme measures will be taken to safeguard a chimp things like the denouement of the Terri Schiavo case can still take place.
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